Wow, Mubadala. I know your feelings are hurt, but you don't have to lie.
The Mubadala World Tennis Championship, the Abu Dhabi exhibition that takes place in the off-season and pays out obscene amounts of cash to top players who attend, will take place in December without Roger Federer for the first time.
Now, every normal person can understand that, because Federer is going to be in Brazil and Colombia for a decent portion of December, he was obviously not going to be participating in this exhibition, which also takes place in December, on top of those. So, this is the line-up that Mubadala has chosen:
From left to right, we have David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Janko Tipsarevic. You’ll notice that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is also absent, as he will be in South America with Federer. But, nonetheless, this cast of players is solid—many of them crowd-pleasers in the Middle East.
Up to this point, all is well and good. Then, however, the Mubadala tournament director released a statement suggesting that the reason Federer is not participating in the event is due to the tournament’s lack of interest in him. Nonsense.
Their reasoning is that the “theme” of the event (I’ve never heard of a tournament with a theme, by the way) is that of past champions. Unfortunately, such an explanation is blatantly false; Mubadala has only 3 past champions (Djokovic, Nadal, and Murray), so how is it that they will be holding the event with six players? Am I missing something, or are they insane?
I am not quite sure why they felt the need to lie, but they did, and it is slightly disturbing, so I thought I would call them out on their nonsense.
“Former World No.1 Roger Federer, a regular at the Abu Dhabi event, will be missing this time. The organisers said that Federer’s absence was down to them inviting former champions of the event. “Roger (Federer) is a very dear friend of the Championship. This is the fifth year and we decided to invite the previous winners. We are celebrating this year’s event with the winners. Unfortunately, Federer hasn’t won here. We had some discussions with Federer. But, since the theme was about past winners, we couldn’t go through. We cannot have all the players we want but we can try and possibly secure some,” Greg Sproule, Managing Director of IMG Middle East, said after announcing the line-up at the Yas Viceroy Hotel on Tuesday. “I think it will be more exciting. We are celebrating past champions. Andy (Murray) is popular, so is Rafa (Rafael Nadal). The reality is that there is a strong UK demographic here. Since Murray’s success in the summer, it will help in attracting the crowds. But, certainly, Federer will be missed,” Sproule added.”
—Ahahaha, this sounds fishy, dear organizers, but you know what? I bet you will see how much he is missing, in numbers. :)
If you say, you invited only past winners, and you have 3 past winners, but 6 players who play, at least have the decency to figure out another excuse for not including Roger.
Even if it was his own decision not to go. Don’t come up with bullshit!
