Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka, Paula Badosa practice on the same court as Dubai becomes hotspot for tennis ahead of 2024 season

Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka, Paula Badosa and several other top tennis players have made Dubai’s Atlantis the Royal their training base ahead of the 2024 season.

Aryna Sabalenka resides in Miami, Florida, and trains at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton during the season. She has, however, preferred Dubai as her pre-season base for the past two years. This time around, the World No. 2 traveled to the UAE in early December and trained at the Rackets Academy in Atlantis the Royal.

The 25-year-old was also spotted sharing the court with her friend and former World No. 2 Paula Badosa.

Badosa, who resides in Dubai, has also been hitting the courts in the gulf city with her boyfriend, World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Belarusian an the Spaniard at the Atlantis the Royal in Dubai

Unveiled in January this year with a performance by Beyonce, the Atlantis the Royal is also currently hosting Novak Djokovic.

The World No. 1, who played his final match of 2023 at the Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain, initially traveled to Marbella for his preliminary training drills. In mid-December, Djokovic landed in Dubai with his entire team, including coach Goran Ivanisevic.

Several videos of the Serb practicing at the Rackets Academy with his proteges, Next Gen ATP Finals winner Hamad Medjedovic and budding Macedonian tennis player Kalin Ivanovski, have emerged on social media.

In addition to Novak Djokovic, Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka, several other top players have set up camp in the Gulf region during the pre-season. Rafael Nadal recently traveled to Kuwait for a one-week drill with Next-Gen ATP Finals runner-up Arthur Fils at his academy.

Meanwhile, three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray was seen practicing with former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem at the PBI sports club in Park Hyatt, Dubai. Thiem also partook in a session with World No. 48 Alexander Shevchenko.

Former Grand Slam champions Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova have also been spotted training in Dubai.

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Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa gear up for exhibition events ahead of 2024 campaign

Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic (L) cheer teammate Paula Badosa during World Tennis League 2022

Novak Djokovic is set to play a blockbuster exhibition match against World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The two-day event, which will be held on December 26-27, will also have Aryna Sabalenka face off against three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur.

The women’s match will be held on the opening day (December 26), while the men will compete a day later.

Before the event, Sabalenka is also scheduled to take part in the World Tennis League exhibition in Abu Dhabi (December 21-24). The reigning Australian Open champion will represent team Kites alongside Paula Badosa, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov.

Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz are other top players who will be in action at the exhibition.