Doha - Tennis "Capital"...
Which country has the women’s professional tennis tournament with the biggest prize money, as well as the tournament with the largest winner’s check outside of the Grand Slams, i.e. Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open? It is Doha, Qatar, which hosts a $2.5 million Tier I tournament (winner’s check is $414,000 and was won by Maria Sharapova in 2008), as well as the year-end 2008 Sony Ericsson Championships which will feature $4.45 million in total prize money. Doha, which is
planning to bid for the Olympics, along with another Emirate, i.e. Dubai, has really become a major tennis destination in the Middle East. There have been ATP tournaments in both Doha and Dubai since 1993 starting with prize money of $475,000 and $1.025 million respectively. In 2008, the prize money for the ATP tournaments increased to $1.049 for Doha and $1.426 for Dubai. The WTA events were added in 2001 in both Doha and Dubai. Ironically, Doha had only $170,000 in total prize money the first year while Dubai had $565,000. Seven years later in 2008, the Doha tournament offers $2.5 million while the event in Dubai has $1.5 million in total prize money. All in all, that’s a lot of “capital,” aka oil dollars, floating across the tennis court! In addition, professional tennis tournaments in the Middle East are another example of sports impacting politics, as well as female pro tennis players serving as positive role models for women.
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