The WTA Tour arrives at the Abu Dhabi Open for the start of the Middle East swing, which spans the month of February. Elena Rybakina returns to defend her crown, which she had lifted with aplomb 12 months ago.
The defending champion will be joined by a whole host of big names, including fellow Grand Slam winners Emma Raducanu, Marketa Vondrousova and Jelena Ostapenko.
Add the likes of Paula Badosa, Leylah Fernandez, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Yulia Putintseva and Belinda Bencic into the mix and you have yourself a packed draw. Before action begins, let's take a look at all the important details about the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open.
What is the Abu Dhabi Open?
The Abu Dhabi Open is an outdoor hard-court competition which is the first of the tennis season's Middle East swing. The inaugural edition of the tournament took place in 2021, marking it a relatively new entrant on the Tour. The opening edition of the tournament was won by Aryna Sabalenka.
The tournament was not played in 2022 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while Belinda Bencic and Elena Rybakina lifted the trophy in 2023 and 2024, respectively. It has been categorized as a WTA 500 event for the 2024 season.
Venue
The tournament will be held at Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre, which has multiple courts. Located in Abu Dhabi, the center has a seating capacity of 5,000 on Centre Court and 600 on Court 2.
Draw and Players
Elena Rybakina is the defending champion and the top seed at this year's draw. She will open her campaign against a qualifier, with a showdown against Ons Jabeur or Jelena Ostapenko on the cards in the quarterfinals.
The projected semifinal opponent for Rybakina is Yulia Putintseva, but she faces big names, including Marketa Vondrousova, Emma Raducanu, Belinda Bencic and Liudmila Samsonova, early in the draw.
The bottom half will be anchored by Daria Kasatkina and Paula Badosa. While the former may face resistance from the likes of Leylah Fernandez and Ashlyn Krueger, the latter will need to be wary of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Linda Noskova.
Schedule
The main draw of the women's singles tournament will commence on February 3. The men's singles final is scheduled to take place on February 8.
Prize Money
The women's singles champion at the Abu Dhabi Open will earn US$164,000 while the runner-up will fetch US$101,000. Here is the full prize money breakdown of the tournament:
Where to Watch
Tennis fans in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and India can watch the proceedings at the 2025 Australian Open on the following sites and channels:
USA: Tennis Channel, ESPN
UK: Eurosport
Australia: Stan Sport, Nine Network
Canada: TSN, RDS
For more information regarding the tournament, click here.