{"id":68509,"date":"2026-02-23T13:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T09:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/?p=68509"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T09:30:19","slug":"felix-auger-aliassime-and-jack-draper-surprise-kids-at-dubai-duty-free-tennis-championships-clinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/felix-auger-aliassime-and-jack-draper-surprise-kids-at-dubai-duty-free-tennis-championships-clinic\/","title":{"rendered":"Felix Auger-Aliassime And Jack Draper Surprise Kids At Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Clinic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of the start of the ATP 500 men\u2019s tournament at the Dubai<\/a> Duty Free Tennis Championships, former World No6 Felix Auger-Aliassime and British No1 Jack Draper surprised young tennis players during a dedicated clinic held at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, creating an inspiring on-court experience for aspiring juniors.<\/p>\n

The two players joined clinic participants for drills and training, interacting closely with the young players and sharing their own journeys through the sport.Reflecting on the experience, Draper highlighted how meaningful moments like these can be for young athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember being around Andy Murray when I was younger at the National Tennis Centre,\u201d he said.\u201cI didn\u2019t actually take part in a clinic, but I think it\u2019s really amazing to give back, especially to young players. I remember when I was much younger and how inspiring it was to be around players like that. The kids were amazing, and I think they definitely learned something. It was also really nice to see their reactions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Draper also spoke about the impact of meeting Murray during his childhood: \u201cI was probably between 10 and 13, around the same age as these kids. I remember feeling like my dream was becoming a little more real after meeting him. Just being in his presence definitely made me want to play even more, because I looked up to him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offering advice to the participants, Draper added:\u201cJust enjoy your tennis, keep it simple, listen to the people who are trying to help you, and most importantly, have fun and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Auger-Aliassime, the clinic was particularly meaningful, as he reflected on not having similar opportunities growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of kids were good players,\u201d said the Canadian, who reached the final in Dubai last year. \u201cThey have bright futures in front of them. They were all happy to see us, and it\u2019s nice to share some time with them because of the innocence of being a kid and having this dream of being a tennis player. It\u2019s very nice to see smiles on their faces, and they have good energy on the court.There could be professional players in that group.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also emphasised the importance of daily commitment in a young player\u2019s development: \u201cI mean, it\u2019s nice and it\u2019s inspiring.Some of them can take a little bit of inspiration from this, but the most important thing is what they do every day \u2013 you know, with their coaches and their families, what time they put in every day \u2013 that’s the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the participants was 10-year-old Megan Uzokwe, who described the experience as unforgettable: \u201cI was really surprised when they arrived. I felt amazing and so happy\u2026 I learned new techniques, especially volleys, and I think I\u2019ll remember this experience forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tennis clinic reinforced the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships\u2019 focus on youth development and community engagement, offering young players a rare opportunity to learn directly from established ATP professionals.<\/p>\n

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships now turns attention to the ATP 500 men\u2019s tournament, running from 23\u201328 February at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.Tickets are on sale now, with prices starting from Dh65. For full details, visit ticketmaster.ae<\/a> or dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahead of the start of the ATP 500 men\u2019s tournament at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, former World No6 Felix Auger-Aliassime and British No1 Jack Draper surprised young tennis players during a dedicated clinic held at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, creating an inspiring on-court experience for aspiring juniors. The two players joined clinic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68511,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68509\/revisions\/68511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}