Contents

World Tennis Championship

Mubadala World Tennis Championship
Tournament information
Founded	2009; 15 years ago (2009)
Location	Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
Venue	Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex
Category	Exhibition
Surface	Hard
Draw	6S (Men); 2S (Women) (exhibition)
Current champion	Stefanos Tsitsipas
Website	mubadalawtc.com

The Mubadala World Tennis Championship is a men's and women's singles exhibition tournament. It has been held annually since 2009 at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

History[edit]

In November 2008, sponsor companies Flash and Capitala announced with IMG their partnership to create a new tennis exhibition for the beginning of the season, to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The event, first named Capitala World Tennis Championship, was conceived to promote the sport in the region, creating another world class tennis event in the Middle East alongside the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Dubai Tennis Championships, already taking place in the UAE, the ATP Qatar ExxonMobil Open and the WTA Qatar Total Open, taking place in Doha, Qatar, and the WTA Tour Championships, also set in Doha from 2008 to 2010. The six-player, three-day exhibition, with a winner-takes-all prize money of US$250,000, preceded by weeks of tennis-themed activities in the region, including an amateur Community Cup tournament in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, was created to take place early in the season, before the start of the actual tour events, as a warm-up exhibition for the top players, similar to the AAMI Classic in Melbourne.^[1]

The inaugural Capitala World Tennis Championship took place from January 1 to January 3, 2009, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick and James Blake taking part.^[1] Murray won the event, defeating Blake, Federer, and then-World No. 1 Nadal in the final.^[2]

As of October 2009, Federer, Nadal and Davydenko announced they would return for the 2010 edition, with Stanislas Wawrinka, David Ferrer and Robin Söderling completing the field. Nadal went one further this time, defeating compatriot Ferrer in the semi-finals and Söderling in the final without losing a set. Federer won third place with victory over Ferrer.

For the 2011 edition of the tournament, Nadal, Federer and Söderling returned with Tomáš Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis completing the six-man line-up. Nadal defended the title with a hard-fought victory over Federer after they respectively beat Berdych and Söderling in the semi-finals.

The second 2011 edition (held on December 29–31, 2011) featured Nadal, Federer, Ferrer, Tsonga, Novak Djokovic and Gaël Monfils. Djokovic won the title by beating Monfils and Federer before defeating Ferrer in the final. In the battle for third place, Nadal triumphed over Federer.

On December 30, 2017, Jeļena Ostapenko defeated Serena Williams in the first-ever women's match at the tournament.^[3]

Past finals[edit]

Men's singles[edit]

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
2009	Andy Murray	Rafael Nadal	6–4, 5–7, 6–3
2010	Rafael Nadal	Robin Söderling	7–6(7–3), 7–5
2011 (Jan.)	Rafael Nadal (2)	Roger Federer	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3)
2011 (Dec.)	Novak Djokovic	David Ferrer	6–2, 6–1
2012	Novak Djokovic (2)	Nicolás Almagro	6–7(4–7), 6–3, 6–4
2013	Novak Djokovic (3)	David Ferrer	7–5, 6–2
2015	Andy Murray (2)	Novak Djokovic	(walkover)
2016 (Jan.)	Rafael Nadal (3)	Milos Raonic	7–6(7–2), 6–3
2016 (Dec.)	Rafael Nadal (4)	David Goffin	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
2017	Kevin Anderson	Roberto Bautista Agut	6–4, 7–6(7–0)
2018	Novak Djokovic (4)	Kevin Anderson	4–6, 7–5, 7–5
2019	Rafael Nadal (5)	Stefanos Tsitsipas	6–7(3–7), 7–5, 7–6(7–3)
2020	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic[4]
2021	Andrey Rublev	Andy Murray	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
2022	Stefanos Tsitsipas	Andrey Rublev	6–2, 4–6, 6–2

Women's singles[edit]

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
2017	Jeļena Ostapenko	Serena Williams	6–2, 3–6, [10–5]
2018	Venus Williams	Serena Williams	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
2019	Maria Sharapova	Ajla Tomljanović	6–4, 7–5
2020	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Ons Jabeur	Belinda Bencic	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
2022	Ons Jabeur	Emma Raducanu	5–7, 6–3, [10–8]

Records[edit]

Men's singles[edit]

Most titles	Rafael Nadal	5
Most finals	Rafael Nadal	6
Most consecutive titles	Novak Djokovic	3
Most matches played	Rafael Nadal	22
Most matches won	Rafael Nadal	15
Most editions played	Rafael Nadal	11
Best winning %	Novak Djokovic	92%
Youngest champion	Andy Murray	21y, 7m, 23d
Oldest champion	Rafael Nadal	33y, 6m, 21d

Longest final
2019 (38 games)
Rafael Nadal	63	7	77
Stefanos Tsitsipas	77	5	63

Shortest final
2011 (15 games)
Novak Djokovic	6	6
David Ferrer	2	1

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website