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| Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Yay! It's Carnival week MCMers! Shake off those winter blues. Oh man am I homesick as I can hear the steel drums and the Soca music in my head. In the next few days the streets of Rio and other carnival cities will be ringing with the seductive sounds of the samba, steelpans, soca music and zydeco. I bet the tennis players in Rio, Merida, Mexico and Marseille, France will be getting a bit of their groove on!!! Did you know that carnival is celebrated in over 50 countries of the world? Venice, Italy holds one of the oldest and most famous Carnivals in the world; a public festival dating back to 1296. It was created by the Venice oligarchy as an amusement for the city's population. Some of the biggest, most popular tourist-attracting cities include New Orleans, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, and Venice, Italy.
Most carnivals have a religious underpining. The festival originated with Italian Catholics in Europe, and it later spread to the French and Spanish, who brought the pre-Lenten tradition with them when they settled (and brought slaves) to Trinidad, Dominica, Haiti, Martinique, and other Caribbean islands.Yes all that drinking, carousing and dancing feverishly is the precursor to the revellers slinking back to piety through "fasting" from Ash Wednesday until Easter.
The South American/Middle East/European tour continues and we have some quality matches coming up. I don't know about you but I feel the competition is definitely heating up on the tennis circuit. Let's see who and where we playing.
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Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships WTA 1000
Aviation Club Tennis Centre
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
February 19 - 25, 2023
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| Dubai Tennis Stadium |
Surface: Hard
Draws: Singles 56, Doubles 28
This is the 23rd edition of the tournament.
Defending champion: Jelena Ostapenko who defeated Veronika Kudermetova.
Seeds (in order of seeding): Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Daria Kasatkina, Belinda Bencic, Elena Rybakina, Veronika Kudermetova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Petra Kvitova, Jelena Ostapenko, Liudmila Samsonova, Victoria Azarenka, Ekaterina Alexandrova
The top 8 seeds receive first-round byes.
Wildcards: Linda Fruhvirtova, Sofia Kenin, Marta Kostyuk, Ipek Oz, Vera Zvonareva
Protected ranking: Karolina Muchova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Marketa Vondrousova
Withdrawals: Ons Jabeur, Anett Kontaveit
SINGLES DRAW
Draws: Singles 32, Doubles 16
This is the first edition of the tournament.
Seeds (in order of seeding): Magda Linette, Sloane Stephens, Zhu Lin, Katerina Siniakova, Alycia Parks, Mayar Sherif, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Alison Riske-Armritaj
Wildcards: From Mexico – Fernanda Contreras Gomez, plus Katie Volynets and Simona Waltert
Protected ranking: Nadia Podoroska
Withdrawals: Dalma Galfi, Donna Vekic
Singles and Doubles Draws
OOP
Rio Open ATP 500
Jockey Club Brasileiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
February 20 - 26, 2023
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| Fantastic costumes and floats |
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| Well someone has to restore order!!! |
Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250Khalifa International Tennis and Squash ComplexDoha, QatarFebruary 20 - 26, 2023
National Museum of Qatar
Surface: Hard
Draws: Singles 28, doubles 16
This is the 31 st edition of the tournament.
Defending champion: Roberto Bautista Agut, defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Seeds (in order of seeding): Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Roberto Bautista Agut, Dan Evans, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Botic van de Zandschulp
The top 4 seeds receive a first-round bye.
Other notables include: Jack Draper, Jiri Lehecka, Lorenzo Sonego
Wildcards: Andy Murray, Abedallah Shelbayh, Fernando Verdasco
Withdrawals: Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, Rafael Nadal
Open 13 Provence ATP 250Palais des Sports de MarseilleMarseille, FranceFeb. 20 - 26, 2023
Incredible carnival creations, Marseille, France
Surface : Hard indoor
Draws : Singles 28, Doubles 16
The inaugural edition was in 1993.
Most titles: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with 3 (2009, 2013, 2017).
2022 champion: Andrey Rublev, defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime
Seeds (in order of seeding): Hubert Hurkacz, Jannik Sinner, Alex de Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov, Maxime Cressy, David Goffin, Richard Gasquet, Marc-Andrea Huesler
The top 4 seeds receive a first-round bye.
Other notables include: Alexander Bublik, Mikael Ymer, Stan Wawrinka (who was the last direct entry with a 139 ranking).
Wildcards: All French Players – Geoffrey Blancaneaux, Arthur Fils, Luca van Assche
Withdrawals: Pablo Carreno Busta, Karen Khachanov, Gael Monfils, Oscar Otte, Holger Rune
As you’d expect there are several French players, 6 before the qualifiers are placed.
Missy Hartt: Obrigado, Merci, شكرًا لك, Gracias
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| National Museum of Qatar |
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| Incredible carnival creations, Marseille, France |
Surface : Hard indoor
Draws : Singles 28, Doubles 16
The inaugural edition was in 1993.
Most titles: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with 3 (2009, 2013, 2017).2022 champion: Andrey Rublev, defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime
Seeds (in order of seeding): Hubert Hurkacz, Jannik Sinner, Alex de Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov, Maxime Cressy, David Goffin, Richard Gasquet, Marc-Andrea Huesler
The top 4 seeds receive a first-round bye.
Other notables include: Alexander Bublik, Mikael Ymer, Stan Wawrinka (who was the last direct entry with a 139 ranking).
Wildcards: All French Players – Geoffrey Blancaneaux, Arthur Fils, Luca van Assche
Withdrawals: Pablo Carreno Busta, Karen Khachanov, Gael Monfils, Oscar Otte, Holger Rune
As you’d expect there are several French players, 6 before the qualifiers are placed.
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