From Local Courts to Abu Dhabi, Tennis Can Take You Places

When it comes to tennis, it’s like Dr. Seuss once said, “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

Yes, the professional tennis world has its standard tournament locations, like the locations of the Grand Slams (London, Paris, NYC and Melbourne), but, the ATP and WTA Tours often add new locations into their schedule mixes, providing tennis fans with more exposure to different cities, people and cultures around the world. 

Just consider this example. This year, the WTA Tour announced its provisional 2021 calendar into July 2021 and kicked off action with the inaugural Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

How much do you know about the city of Abu Dhabi and other cities in the UAE? I admit that, besides knowing its UAE capital status, I was less familiar with Abu Dhabi and more familiar with the UAE city of Dubai. Seeing Abu Dhabi listed on the WTA Tour 2021 tournament schedule, though, drove me online to conduct research and learn more.

After visiting DifferenceBetween.net, I’m now aware that Abu Dhabi is a traditional city in UAE, is the second-most populous city in UAE, and it’s only about two hours driving distance by cab away from Dubai. And, by glancing at Wikipedia’s 2021 Abu Dhabi Women’s Tennis Open entry, I now know that Abu Dubai is home of the impressive Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre, where the 2021 Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open is being played.

My prior knowledge of Dubai included being aware of its famously-architected and iconic luxury hotel, Burj Al Arab, and the fact that men’s tennis legends Andre Agassi and Roger Federer once hit tennis balls there together 211 meters above the ground on the hotel’s helipad, which had been converted into a tennis court. Check out this amazing video of their sky-high play!

In our first 2021 Love-Love Tennis blog and podcast, I asked tennis players and fans to consider all of the lessons that the sport of tennis offers. Without doubt, the sport of professional tennis today, with its international ATP and WTA Tour schedules, is raising awareness of some of the most unique cities and geographies around the world.

Tennis. What’s not to love about a sport that can teach you things you never knew before? If you’ve never played or watched the game, now is the time. As Dr. Seuss may have said:

“Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with the ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”