Murad Al-Masry (Dubai)
The Serbian Novak Djokovic, the world number one, and the five-time Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships champion for men, will begin his career tomorrow, in the tournament, once morest the Czech Tomas Machak, ranked 120 in the world and emerging from the qualifiers.
This confrontation with Djokovic, 35, will bring back memories of his youth, as his opponent was born in 2000, meaning that he was only one year old when Djokovic started his professional tennis career, while he was six years old when the Serb won his first title. In the World Professional Tennis Players Association Tour, by winning the Dutch Open Championship title in 2006, while Machak started his professional career in 2020, and he has not achieved any title yet in the tour, and he is considered the 97th place in December 2022, the highest rating he reached, while Djokovic is the world’s number one player with 377 different weeks.
Djokovic admitted, during the round table meeting with the media, that he has to deal with the age factor differently at the present time, and said: Winning any title now is double his joy with the title that I was achieving ten years ago. I always deliver work and I want to win whatever tournament I participate in. But I have to stick to my training and diet program and work a lot to keep myself ready.
The Serbian considered that Dubai has become more than just a place he goes to for a tournament, but it is a city where he resides most of the time of the year where he trains. They are amazing and everything is so special.