The world's leading female tennis players will compete at a freshly enhanced venue when the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships returns to the emirate next February.
The tournament has been confirmed for February 15-28 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, with tickets now on sale.
The line-up for the WTA 1000 event will include world No1 Aryna Sabalenka, six-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek and 21-year-old American prodigy Coco Gauff.
They will all try to wrestle the title away from reigning champion Mirra Andreeva, who will defend her crown at the newly renovated stadium in Al Garhoud.
Fans returning for the 26th staging of the women’s event will be able to watch matches at the brand new 2,000-seat Court 1, while plans are being implemented to increase the capacity of Centre Court by 50 per cent for the 2027 event.
Tickets for 2026 went on sale on Wednesday, October 8, with an early bird offer of 20 per cent discount for the first three days of the tournament, with the cheapest tickets priced at just Dh52 per day.
Ramesh Cidambi, managing director of Dubai Duty Free, said the redevelopment work will ensure the venue continues to host world-class events with bigger crowds and lead to more TV coverage.
“The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships has been one of Dubai’s flagship sporting events since the 1990s, welcoming the game’s best men and, later, women players,” Cidambi said.
“Throughout that time, we have constantly looked to grow, improve, and provide an even bigger and better event for the players, officials and spectators.
“We are excited to officially launch tickets for the 2026 edition and expect tennis fans to avail of the early bird offer for the first three days of the tournament, which will feature the world’s top women players.”
Tournament director Salah Tahlak, who is also the deputy managing director of Dubai Duty Free, added: “We saw the depth of women’s tennis this year in Dubai as Mirra Andreeva came through a field that included nine of the world’s top 10 women and 16 of the top 20 to become, at the age of 17, the youngest WTA 1000 champion in history.
“We are confident of having incredibly strong line-ups across both the women’s and men’s tournaments once again and anticipate another fortnight of fantastic tennis.”
Tickets for both the WTA tournament and subsequent ATP event are available for purchase at www.dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com and www.ticketmaster.ae.
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
