Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian tennis player is expecting to be 4th time lucky here as she tries to break her ‘jinx’ when the main draw of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open starts at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, tomorrow.
Kuznetsova, the losing finalist of last year had also made it to the end stages in the year 2004 and also in 2008, but she has not won a title year. Yesterday evening, the 2 time grand slam winner stated at the official draw ceremony of the event that apart from coming here and enjoying the warmth of the sun, it would be nice to go one better and win the title.
Attending the main draw was executive vice-chairman Colm McLoughlin, senior vice-president of corporate communications Salah Tahlak and vice-president of Tennis Emirates Abdul Rahman Falaknaz and WTA Supervisor Donna Kelso.
She said that she loves it here, particularly when the temperatures back home are minus ten and even minus twenty-seven, last week. She loves to spend a lot of time in Dubai during pre-season preparation too, and she is expecting that she can come up with a better performance this year. There is no secret, but just continue doing harder and harder on court and hopefully one day the title will be her.
Kuznetsova starts her campaign against Julia Goerges of Germany. Kuznetsova was one of the 3 tennis players present at the main draw with her 8th seed Jelena Jankovic and her compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
McLoughlin told that it is celebratory time for tennis, this year, due to the 20th anniversary celebrations. There will be an air of great excitement around the Dubai Tennis Stadium and the growth of tennis here has been in tandem with the growth of Dubai Duty Free.