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Chaos, complications as ATP players try to flee Dubai (updated) – Open Court

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Chaos, complications as ATP players try to flee Dubai (updated) – Open Court

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Tennis was front and centre on every front last week, as reality pierced the tight little bubble and violence broke out around the world.

In Mexico, tournaments in Acapulco for the men and Mérida for the women went ahead as planned, under the shadow of gang violence in many places around the country following the killing of cartel kingpin Nemesio (El Mencho) Oseguera Cervantes.

In Austin, Texas, the Sunday final between Americans Peyton Stearns and Taylor Towsend WTA 250 carried on, even as another deadly mass shooting took place there in the early hours the same day.

But the biggest situation of all came in the Middle East, where the ATP held a 500-level event in Dubai that – purely by luck – had Saturday finals.

(Daniil Medvedev didn’t have to hit a ball to win, as his opponent Tallon Griekspoor withdrew due to injury).

Had it been Sunday, given the U.S./Israel invasion of Iran early Saturday morning and the consequent responses from Iran that rippled throughout the Middle East – including Dubai – that were just the opening salvos in what could be an extended conflict would surely have cancelled the event.

Just an hour away in Fujairah, players and officials are stuck at a cancelled Challenger.

And that’s where things got a little messy.

Top players Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov and their teams appear, from online reports, finally appear to be on their way to Indian Wells tonight. But their notoriety overshadows the fact that there are more than 100 players, team members, physios, officials and a few media still stranded in the country where the U.S. embassy was attacked by drones on Tuesday.Because there was another tournament going there, a brand-new Challenger-level event with total prize money of $63,000 US, in Fujairah.

And the Dubai doubles champions and finalists were … not as fortunate or financially able as those three. They went through it.

Fujairah is on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, directly east of Dubai and about an hours’ drive (and multiple millions of dollars) away.

And on Monday, despite everything going on, they rather incredibly went ahead with the start of qualifying and completed the day.

Tuesday was a different story.

No. 1 seed Hayato Matsuoka didn’t even bother packing up his gear, as the players clearly got some sort of message to evacuate the court and took off running.

By the end of the day, the tournament was cancelled, as was a similar one scheduled for next week.

Fujairah is an important oil storage and refinining hub and a link in the UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah Pipeline, which can bypass the embattled Strait of Hormuz. Air defences intercepted a drone at the port there on Tuesday, causing a fire.

So that leaves a big group of Challenger-level players (Matsuoka, the top seed, has earned $5,735 so far this season) stuck with no tennis to play for two weeks. And, even worse, no way to get out of the region with the flights cancelled and the airports all but shut down but for a few exclusive flights.

Even assuming they could afford it.

Back in Dubai, Dubai doubles champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, and finalists Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo were in rather more challenging straits than the Russians. And they, too, wanted to get to Indian Wells.

Heliovaara, who was in Dubai with his wife and two children, has been keeping people up to date on his blog.

On Sunday evening, they felt like they might leave at any moment and were getting briefings from the ATP and the tournament that were short on information. And no assistance in getting out, although they were welcome to figure out a solution on their own.

They couldn’t get on any of the few flights leaving Dubai. But Heliovaara did source a few tickets leaving from Oman and Saudi Arabia.

The route for Heliovaara, his family, the car seats and partner Patten was technically, Dubai-Muscat (Oman) by car. And then Muscat-Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) – London – Helsinki by plane: 36 hours of travel.

There were issues with the promised car being far too small, issues at the Omani border with taking a car with UAE plates in. And even getting OUT of UAE. Read all about it here; it’s insane. In the end they turned around and went back to the Dubai hotel.

“Chartering a private jet was also considered, and the Russian players who were stuck in several twists and turns finally made it through Muscat today. But they didn’t have an easy trip, either,” Heliovaara wrote. “However, prices are sky-high at tens of thousands of euros per seat.”

In the end, after posting this on Tuesday night, they were able to get tickets for one of those rare flights out of Dubai, an early flight to Milan. And keeping their fingers crossed.

The big group of other tennis people still stuck there weren’t even this lucky.

That’s when all of this turned.

The players in Fujairah got a rather odd email, sent from the tournament, confirming that the two Challengers were cancelled but, for the LOW, LOW PRICE of 5,000 Euros, they might be able to get a flight out.

Putting aside the unfortunate typo, it definitely seemed rather sketchy. But of course it provoked an instant outrage reaction from the players – and whatever fans and clickbait media saw it.

From what we were able to find out, it was sent by a tournament supervisor in Jumeirah, a contractor hired by the tournament named Jiri Adamovsky.

The number given to the players to contact, a Czech number, does correspond to Adamovsky. He clearly meant well.

But when Open Court contacted him for more information Tuesday afternoon, he replied that he “had no details who will be handling this for now”.

There are plenty of people hopping on this bandwagon in the last few days, offering exit options at highly inflated prices – whether by air, or by road transport to other countries. You know people – not just tennis players – are getting swindled right and left as they desperately look to leave.

It was dodgy enough that the ATP sent out a “clarifying” email later in the day, indicating that the flight was not organized by the ATP, but that they’re “exploring available travel options with third-party providers and sharing relevant information with players as it becomes available. Any charter opportunity identified is independently operated, and participation is entirely voluntary. … We are … monitoring commercial flight availability and alternative departure routes”.

That’s cold comfort for the players, of course. And it certainly sounds like the poorly-paid players will be on the hook for those “independantly operated” flights however it shakes out, when nearly all of them were planning to stay in Dubai for the second tournament. The above-mentioned No. 1 seed Matsuoka has earned about as much this season as that one-way flight to Milan would cost; and he lives in Japan.

Not to mention the players will likely go these two weeks, after outlaying the expenses to get to Dubai, without any earning opportunities.

The increasingly irrelevant PTPA chimed in with an offer to cover half the exhorbitant cost of that flight (which we’re not even sure is happening).

A few issues with this – notably that the exit routes out of the region are hardly safe, or assured these days. And there’s no guarantee everyone who wants to leave could even GET to Oman, never mind there being room on a flight that leaves in a little over a day with thousands of people also trying to get out. And this 5,000-euro option doesn’t even seem like a sure thing.

The other thing is that we’re not talking about a small amount of people here. And we are talking about people who literally might be travelling to the four corners of the planet – including, in the case of some officials and physios and the like, to Indian Wells.

The ATP has not, historically, been very quick to react to complicated, high-profile situations. And all of the words in that “clarifying e-mail” don’t seem to offer much comfort at all, even if it’s not an easy situation to resolve.

It’s also true that Emirates Airlines is a major sponsor of the ATP. So there’s certainly an avenue there and a working relationship which, you hope, ends in a solution sooner rather than later.

Assuming they can even find a plane available, the cost of getting 100 people to take a charter to somewhere on safer ground – Milan? Istanbul? – would probably be at least $100,000 US for something the size of a 737. Plus the cost of getting everyone there.

Now, it would be great if Emirates kicked in the cost. But right now they’re dealing with massive financial challenges because they can’t get their planes in the air. And when things do start back up, they face both logistical challenges getting the aircraft and personnel to the right places, and dealing with thousands of rebooks.

But if they can’t, the ATP should foot the bill. They can surely afford it. And it’s not fair to make people scramble and bid for and fight for precious slots on rare flights.

The doubles final in Dubai – the only tennis played – was played before friends and family hours before the scheduled start of the singles final – which never happened.

Barring that, the Dubai Duty Free Championships could eat the cost, or part of it. The tournament did not offer the patrons who paid high prices for Saturday’s final a match, with the Griekspoor default, their money back. The singles final was scheduled hours after the end of the men’s doubles final. So the place was empty for that, even if the fans might have come early to at least see some tennis if they’d known.

They are likely not obligated, by law, to issue full refunds. But sportswashing money is plentiful. The tournament only offered a 50 per cent refund on the tickets. Which is weak. And leaves them with plenty of ill-gotten gains in the kitty.

Given they plan to host a big ATP 1000 rather soon, it would be a goodwill gesture given who knows how long all of this will last. And we know one thing: Dubai’s reputation as the “safe oasis in the Middle East” has taken a huge reputational hit.

The other thing the ATP needs to do is ensure that all the players who were in Fujairah have a place to play next week. Ideally, somewhere not too far from where a plane would drop them.

Whether that means allowing them to enter qualifying at another Challenger – the options are limited and widespread (Phoenix, Cherbourg, Crete, Dominican Republic, Santiago, Chile and … Rwanda) – or putting together a Challenger in short order at some other location, that’s not easy to do.

The Fujairah Country Club, which was to be the scene of new back-to-back Challenger events – until terror hit.

But nothing’s impossible. There are enough Challenger venues in Europe that are used to hosting events that they could probably pull something together, if the will was there.

Perhaps all those solutions are taking some time. So be it. It’s easy to criticize, easy to judge from thousands of miles away, when on the ground it’s a precarious, complex and rather terrifying and ever-changing landscape.

But it’s an opportunity for the ATP make good to a key part of their playing population – one that has taken a lot of blows in recent years, mostly with the diminution of ranking points and the general obscurity in which they operate. And to show that their organization will have their back, when it’s really needed.

We’ll see if they can step up.

According to The First Serve, Tennis Australia stepped up to get Jason Kubler, his coach Andrew Harris and young Cruz Hewitt out of Fujairah.

And on Wednesday, around lunchtime in the Middle East, stranded player Ilya Ivashka offered some good news on his Instagram.

The ATP has arranged a charter flight to get everyone out, for which they will assume the cost.

As well, most of the players stuck in Dubai at the ATP 500 event departed on Wednesday on various flights.

On Wednesday morning, the Heliovaara crew did get on a flight to Milan, and expect to reach Helsinki by Wednesday evening.

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Medvedev and Khachanov have practice courts scheduled at Indian Wells at 6 p.m. PST.

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