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CITY NETS A WINNER AS PHIL COLLINS IS ON SONG

Tennis is rapidly growing to become one of the world's most watched and loved sports. A sea of people could be seen entering the Dubai Tennis Stadium throughout the days of the Dubai Open Championships, when the big guns of the sport took centre stage on centre court a few months ago.

Fast-forwarding to the present, tennis buffs in the city will have another reason to celebrate in a few months time, when the city plays host to The Legends Rock Dubai, the first senior tennis championships to be hosted in the country.

The event, which will be held at the Madinat Jumeirah from November 8-10, will feature a high-profile international field of senior superstars like Bjorn Borg, Ilie Nastase, Michael Stich, Mansour Bahrami, Vijay Amritraj, Henri Leconte and Guy Forget, and will be held alongside the farewell concert of Phil Collins (Nov.10) and his charity organisation 'The Little Dreams Foundation'.

Speaking with City Times, Mehbod Dowlatshahi, managing director of Delwood Consultancy Services, co-hosts of the tennis extravaganza, said, "This is Phil Collins' last year on tour and the event has been co-organised by his foundation to coincide with his show in the city. Every year the foundation selects a group of children from around the world and nurtures them to in order to help them achieve their dreams. Many children have the talent, but they lack the resources required to come up and this is where the foundation intervenes. The foundation has godfathers and godmothers with whom the selected children can train and better their skills and most of the competing players who will come down for the event are on the foundation's list."

Dowlatshahi mentioned that one of the lucky children to sign a contract with the singer's foundation would be selected from the UAE itself. "The foundation selects ten children from around the world every year, and it takes care to see that they are put on the right track. It also reviews their performance and decides whether or not to renew its contract with them, so if you are selected it doesn't mean you will be there to stay; you have to show that you are good and deserve the contract. This year, the foundation wanted to organise the event in another part of the world and saw Dubai as a good venue for the development of the sport. The city has a good mix of people and it would be real nice if a world-renowned player emerges from here because of this scheme," Dowlatshahi said.

Apart from showcasing clashes between the titans and picking up a kid, who has dreams of making it big in tennis, The Legends Rock Dubai will include a PRO-AM event at The Jumeirah Beach Hotel, where sponsors and supporters will have the rare opportunity to interact and enjoy a game of tennis with the legends.

The three days of tennis will conclude with Collins' show at the Dubai Autodrome. "It's a first of a kind event that will be made to include a lot of different things like sports, music, children's activities and dinners. Our guests from the tennis event will be taken for Collins' show."

Highlighting the importance of the event, tournament director, Eric Gottschalk, said, "It's not everyday that you get to see the legends on court. Dubai has a huge expatriate community and a lot of people living here absolutely love the game. Many of us have seen them play on TV and can relate to these past greats, and I think it would be wonderful to see them grace the courts here in Dubai."

While event organisers have made a committment to donate a minimum of $100,000 to the foundation, which will use the money for supporting special talents in the UAE.