Daniil Medvedev stuck in Dubai after winning title as tennis stars stranded | Tennis | Sport

They included the United Arab Emirates, with its capital, Abu Dhabi, having been hit hard by the strikes. The chaos spilt over to nearby Dubai, where the tournament was taking place, but the plan was to continue with the final, had Griekspoor been fit enough to compete.

The doubles final still went ahead, despite projectiles being seen over Dubai. But Medvedev and his fellow competitors still face problems, as all flights out of Dubai have been cancelled until further notice.

As reported by The Athletic, a representative for Medvedev has claimed they are trying to get the now two-time Dubai Tennis Championships winner out of the Middle Eastern state. It comes ahead of the Indian Wells Masters, which is set to get underway in California next week.

The good news for Medvedev is that he won’t be in action until either Friday or Saturday, having been given a bye into the second round. But the travel disruptions will likely put a dent in any preparations he had planned for the Masters 1000 tournament.

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Medvedev had posted on X: “Not how I want to win a final. Hoping the injury for @Griekii is not too bad and wishing him a speedy recovery.”

Griekspoor hobbled his way through the semi-final against Andrey Rublev, with the tennis ace admitting he ‘couldn’t walk’ after the match. During his on-court interview after beating Rublev, he said: “No idea how I pulled off this one.

“I could barely walk from the end of the first set. I guess lucky and unlucky at the same time, at least I could go out there in the second and just swing, try to keep my serve games, try to get a look somewhere on his serve, which didn’t happen, because he served extremely well.

“Then I got very lucky in the tiebreak to win it in two sets, because if this was going three, it was going to be an extremely hard story, so no idea how I pulled this one off. I landed with the serve, and I felt something with my hamstring.”