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British tennis legend Andy Murray has confirmed his participation at this month's Dubai Tennis Championships, accepting a second consecutive wildcard from organisers.
For the second successive year, the three-time Grand Slam champion returns to ATP 500 event, set to run from February 26 to March 4 at Dubai Tennis Stadium. While capturing three Grand Slam times is a huge part of Murray's successful tennis career, the Scot reached World No.1 in 2016 and made history at that year's Olympic Games when he became the only player to win back-to-back gold medals in tennis singles. A two-time finalist in Dubai, Murray defeated Fernando Verdasco in 2017 to lift the trophy, before a series of injuries saw him slip down the world rankings. Murray took a wildcard to play at the Dubai Tennis Stadium last year after becoming the first British man to win a Grand Slam in the 2012 US Open. He reached the Round of 16 in his first appearance at the ATP 500 tournament since his victory five years ago. Following some encouraging showings at the Australian Open last month, he will be eager to advance further this time. "Coming back to Dubai brings with it a lot of good memories, not least 2017 and the final with Fernando. My form is improving and my game is getting better, so the Dubai Tennis Championships provides another great opportunity for me to continue to climb back up the rankings," two-time Wimbledon champion Murray was quoted as saying by Dubai Tennis Championships. Murray joins a stellar field that includes new World No.1 Novak Djokovic, who is chasing a sixth Dubai title, last year's champion Andrey Rublev, 2021 US Open winner Daniil Medvedev, Olympic Gold medalist Alexander Zverev, and World No.7 Felix Auger-Aliassime, among others. "We are delighted to welcome Andy back to Dubai. Everybody knows how important a figure he is in British tennis and, as we have seen in the seven previous times he has competed at our event, he always attracts a strong and passionate support base. He accepted our wildcard last year and was a credit to the tournament and we are very happy he has accepted our invite once again," said Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free. (ANI)
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