Bopanna And Qureshi Delight Budding Tennis Emirates Stars

© Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'The Indo-Pak Express', Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (left) and Rohan Bopanna took part in a Tennis Emirates Clinic on Tuesday.

The UAE’s budding tennis stars were given the opportunity of a lifetime today, rubbing shoulders with the star doubles pairing of Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan ahead of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Around 30 young Tennis Emirates players of all ages were thrilled to interact with the stars, getting tips on their serves and backhand stokes (before being given tickets to actually watch the pros in action on centre court) while Bopanna and Qureshi were impressed with the talent on display.

Tournament mascot Ace was on hand as usual, keeping an eye of proceedings and to get in on the action.

Watch Bopanna-Qureshi During Clinic

“It’s great fun being able to interact with some of the future champions and fantastic to be able to give something back to the game,” said Bopanna.

“There is some real talent here and the youngsters gave us a run for our money,” added Qureshi.

“The young players at Tennis Emirates get so much out of spending time with some of the stars of the game and our sincere thanks go to Rohan and Aisam for offering their time and sharing their knowledge and skills with the children,” said Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of tournament owners and organisers Dubai Duty Free.

Bopanna and Qureshi will play their first match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Viktor Troicki of Serbia.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Play began on February 14th with the WTA Tour event, which was won by Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, and continues with the ATP tournament this week, that includes Australian Open and reigning Dubai champion Novak Djokovic and four-time Dubai winner Roger Federer.

Tickets to most of the matches are still available from both the Stadium’s Box Office and online at www.timeouttickets.com.