We bring the best players to the Dubai tennis tournament every year: Salah Tahlak

"It's his desire to know all the small things that I found extraordinary. Things that can be tedious, things that demand patience, he wants to know them all," Salah Tahlak told Khaleej Times during an interview.   
Tahlak's inspiration is His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
For those who don't know Tahlak, well we then have to take you on a remarkable journey.
A journey that saw Tahlak become the first UAE national to take up the role of the Tournament Director of the multi-award winning Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
A journey that saw him become the first Arab to hold the very important position of a Tournament Council member at the ATP and WTA.
It's an achievement that would not have been possible without his tireless efforts that helped the Dubai Tennis become an iconic event. As the men's event of the tournament is celebrating its 25th year later this month, Tahlak shared some incredible stories with Khaleej Times.
Excerpts from the interview:
You became the Tournament Director of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis championships in 2003. It has been a memorable journey, isn't it? The tournament is completing 25 years this month...
It was not an easy task to start with. In fact, I have been a part of the team since 1993, but I became the Tournament Director in 2003. I was the deputy Tournament Director in 2002. I remember one Wednesday when Colm (McLgloughin) called and said 'Salah, I want everything to be in-house'. I asked him what he meant. He told me that he wanted me to be more involved in the tennis tournament. He told me that he wanted me to replace Jeff Chapman, the Australian who was the Tournament Director from 1993 to 2001. He asked me to think over it. I thought it was a very good opportunity because I was the only UAE national at that level. So I said yes I am ready. 
Since that day my job has been to take the tournament to a new level. Chapman, of course, did a very good job. But I wanted to take the tournament to a different level. I thought I had to raise the benchmark.   
 
The tournament, of course, has been unbelievably successful. What was the turning point?
There was the war in Iraq in 2003. At the same time, the cricket World Cup was also going on. Then a day before the final round of the 2003 Dubai Desert Classic I met His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. He told me that he was watching the tennis and asked me why there were empty seats in the stadium. I told him there were three reasons for that. One of them was the war because there was an uncertainty among the people in the region. Most of our fans are basically expats. So maybe the war happening in Iraq was quite disturbing for them. Plus about 40 per cent of the tennis fans were from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka who were all busy watching the cricket World Cup. And third reason I gave was the tickets which were expensive. I told him that from next year the tickets will be cheaper by 50 per cent.
Sheikh Mohammed said he had been following our tournament and congratulated me on the good job. He encouraged me to keep doing the good work. I thanked him for his support and promised him that there would be more people in the stands from next year and that we would attract a better line up of players.
So having the support of His Highness was a massive boost for me and the tournament. 
His Highness, in fact, used to play tennis in Ramadan tournaments. So he is really fond of tennis.  His support has been our biggest strength. 
 
So what did you do to make the tournament even better?
The tournament started in 1993. But we never had a great line up in the first nine years. It was because our tournament was in the fifth week of the month, right after the Australian Open. So most of the top players those days were reluctant to come to Dubai because they were tired after going deep into the first Grand Slam of the year in Australia. Our tournament was in the 250 series. So we swapped our week with the Milan tournament which really helped us upgrade our event to 500 series. Now there is more time after the Australian Open and the top players feel comfortable coming here even if they go deep into the Australian Open.
That, to me, is one of the biggest reasons why our tournament really became so successful. In fact, we started with the new upgraded tournament in 2001. After that the tournament has reached a new level. I remember after winning the final here few years ago, (Novak) Djokovic said Dubai is ready to be upgraded to the Masters 1000 event. But I think our field is already as good as the Masters events.

 
Your most special memory from the tournament....
In 2005, we brought Andre Agassi for the first time. And we had the tennis match on the Burj Al Arab helipad. We came up with the whole idea and the team worked on it and made it happen.
I remember one day after the helipad match, His Excellency Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, called me and asked me if I would like to take Agassi to meet His Highness Sheikh Mohammed.  
We went to meet Sheikh Mohammed who congratulated me on the improvements he saw in the tennis tournament. Then I introduced him to Agassi and we spent about one hour at his place. Agassi was surprised when we told him that Sheikh Mohammed is also a great sportsman who has won several  160km international endurance races. You know before the Meydan became Meydan, the Dubai Duty Free had a huge tent at the same place. When Sheikh Mohammed saw that, he asked, 'Who did this tent'? He was so specific and he was asking about all the details. He wanted to know how many hours we spent building that, how many people worked on it. He wanted to know everything. 
You know he goes into details. That tells you about his passion to make things special. That's why Dubai today is so successful. 
 

 
Now can you tell our readers how you arranged that famous helipad match between Federer and Agassi in 2005?
It took us about one month to convince both Agassi and Federer to do it. Because one of them, I can't remember if it was Federer or Agassi, had a height phobia. 
Eventually both of them agreed. When it was done, it went all over the world. I remember the head of ATP was Mark Miles. He called me the following day and said, 'Salah, what you guys have done is great for tennis. Congratulations, you guys hit half the planet.'
What he meant was that half of the world had seen it on TV, internet, newspapers and magazines. 
For the ATP, maybe it was all about tennis. But for us, it was more than tennis. It was about Dubai. 
Even now the Burj Al Arab is an icon of Dubai. That unforgettable image of Federer and Agassi playing tennis on the helipad with the view of the Dubai city was beautiful and magical. I am so proud of it that it happened when I was the Tournament Director. But it was not just me, the whole Dubai Duty Free team showed the passion to do such a unique thing. 
We had to arrange a top class photographer and a videographer for the helicopter shots. I think we spent less than $25,000 to stage that match on the helipad. But the impact of it was unbelievable. I mean if I put a number then I have to tell you that it was worth about $25.5 million. 
 
Dubai Duty Free is also one of the sponsors of WTA...
Why we chose tennis to promote Dubai because tennis is one of the cleanest sports in the world. We sponsor more than 52 WTA tournaments in the world. It has given us a wonderful opportunity to show what Dubai is and what Dubai can do.
 
Top players like Federer, Djokovic, the Williams sisters love coming to the Dubai tournament...
I think we are the only tournament in the world which built a five-star hotel because of the tennis. The centre court is a five-minute walk from the hotel. Also the great thing about our tournament is that the stadium and the hotel are just five-10 minutes drive from the airport. We make sure they have a very smooth time from the moment they arrive at the airport. 
That's why the top players love coming here. Our aim has always been the same - to bring the best players to the Dubai tournament every year. As His Highness Sheikh Mohammed said we need Dubai to be number one. So to achieve that we have to create the right kind of environment. I think we have managed to do it very well at the Dubai Tennis. You know Roger calls it his tournament.
 
The men's tournament is completing 25 years this time. How do you plan to celebrate it?
It's a great achievement. It's the silver jubilee. That means we have done quarter of a century of excellence. We are having a great line up once again. Federer will be here again.
We have done a 52-minute film on our 25th year anniversary celebrations. We will also release a book on the tournament. We will also have a pure silver coin which has the tennis logo and the dates from the beginning of the tournament until now. It's a memorabilia that we will give to each player, to each sponsor and to officials who have been with us since 1993. We have also kept something as a surprise for the final.
 
Can you tell our readers of your plans to help the local talent in the UAE?
I am a board member of Tennis Emirates. Dubai Duty Free has always supported them. We have done a lot really for the growth of the UAE national tennis team. We have also supported various programmes launched to help the players at the grassroots level. Also we have given Omar Behroozian nine wild cards to play in the main draw. It's good for the UAE, good for the tennis. We have also encouraged players from the region. Mohammed Al Ghareeb from Kuwait came close to winning a set against Federer one year. It was good for Arab tennis. We also had Moroccan great Younes El Aynaoui in our tournament.
   
You are also the first Arab to become a tournament Council member at the ATP and WTA...
I feel proud because we are voted by other tournament directors. Our job is to look at the possibilities to make the tournaments better, the line-ups better. We also have to work on the player commitments, ticketing system, TV distribution, TV rights and to bring some global sponsors. 
At the WTA, there could be a new structure from 2019. And there could be changes in the ATP too in 2019. Efforts are on to make some changes to make the tournaments and the sport overall more interesting for the fans. The year 2019 could be the start of a new era in tennis.
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com