Tennis Channel earned many plaudits for cancelling its coverage of the women’s tournament in Dubai after Israeli player Shahar Peer was denied a visa, but tennis from this oil-rich city in the United Arab Empirates is back on the network with the semis and finals of the ATP Tour stop their this weekend.  The description of the network’s program Open Access airing today before the matches sounds like the Dubai PR staff wrote it: “It’s all happening here on the edge of the Arabian Gulf, so put on your robes and get ready for Open Access from the world’s fastest growing city, Dubai!”  So much for the Tennis Channel’s vociferous opposition.

Of course the field of the big-money event known as the Dubai Duty Free has been thin, as Nadal and Federer pulled out citing injury, Andy Murray got sick, and defending champion Andy Roddick opted not to go in protest to Peer’s case, passing up a fat paycheck.  The Dubai Duty Free, unlike the women’s, was not Israeli-free, however, as Israeli player Andy Ram played and lost in the doubles draw. 

It looks on the aerial shot of the stadium for the Djokovic-Simon match that there can’t be more than 2,000 people there, if that.  I think tennis should do what many laid off foreigners in Dubai are doing – buy a one-way ticket out of town.  Check out The New York Times photo of one of the estimated 3,000 cars abandoned at the Dubai airport.

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