Barclays in $9mn Dubai tennis sponsorship

Barclays is to become the title sponsor of the Dubai Tennis Championships in a three-year $9 million agreement with Dubai Duty Free, which owns and organises the tournament.

It is Barclays’ first foray into professional tennis sponsorship and is seen as a major endorsement of the Dubai tournament, which began in 1993 and has grown into a fortnight of world-class tennis.

The tournament, which will be known as the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, was named ‘Tournament of theYear’ by the ATP for the fourth consecutive time earlier this year. The event has seen stars including Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova and Venus and Serena Williams all grace centre court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium in recent years.

Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free said: 'We are delighted to announce Barclays title sponsorship and we believe it takes our tournament to a new level. Many of our existing sponsors have been with the tournament since the beginning and we hope that this is the start of a long relationship with Barclays”.