UAE No1 Omar Behroozian has credited a five-week spell in England with helping him rediscover his touch on the tennis court.
Behroozian, who retired from playing in 2012 only to have a rethink when he was handed a wildcard entry to last year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, was in fine form in Abu Dhabi last week as he did not drop a set en route to lifting the Wilson Tennis Cup at Zayed Sports City.
Coming just 12 months after he suffered final heartbreak against Peter Wessels in the capital, Behroozian was delighted with his straight sets victory over Amirvala Madanchi.
Following the match, the 32-year-old revealed he had prepared for the new year with a visit to Britain, where he had fitted in 19 matches in little over a month.
“I made the final last year but lost to Peter Wessels and obviously I wanted to go one step further this year. I’m glad that I was able to win the tournament,” he said.
“I think I was more ready this year because I was in England for five weeks before here and I played a lot of matches there. So I felt much more into it and much more match-fit than I was last year.
“I think that gave me an edge in the matches. I was able to win all my matches in straight sets and that’s because of the matches I got in England, a lot of tough, competitive matches and I’m glad I was able to carry that into this week.”
Behroozian, who has a busy year to look forward to, is hopeful he will again be given a wildcard for next week’s men’s tournament at the Aviation Club.
The UAE will again be involved in Group III of the Asia/Oceania section of the Davis Cup, with a decision on where April’s tournament will be played expected by the end of next month.
Meanwhile, the UAE No1 will use the next two weeks to practice with some of the best players in the world, male and female, regardless of whether he is able to step onto court competitively.
He added: “I don’t know about the wildcard yet but I am ready, I think I am playing my best tennis for a few years now.”
WINNERS LIST
Men's Open: Omar Behrouzian
Ladies Open: Magali De Lattre
Men's Doubles Open: Depla Dries + Mhar Joseph
Women's Doubles Open: Zaric Dragana + Perez Rosa
Mixed Doubles Open: Sanjana Sudhir + Sigi Meeuws
Men’s Cup: Amr Hazem
Ladies Cup: Rai Sengupta
Men’s Doubles Cup: Roshan Razik + Rajesh Kumar
Ladies Doubles Cup: Carmen Soodroo + Carolina Benia
Men’s Singles Veteran: Morhaf Al Ahmed
Women’s Singles Veteran: Danielle Mailhot
Boys 18s: Karim Najia
Girls 18s: Rabines Luciana
Boys 16s: Karim Najia
Boys 14s: Patrick Wong
Girls 14s: Anaya Singh
Boys 12s: Amir Rakhimov
Girls 12s: Sriram Deepshika
Under 10s: Adham Salhab
Under 9s: Shayan Shahid
Under 8s: Aruna Alimbetova