Dubai appears to have responded to Roger Federer’s ATP Tour complaints

Roger Federer has been vocal about the uniformity of court speeds in 2025, and it looks like the Dubai Tennis Championships have taken notice.

In a conversation with Andy Roddick on Served during the Laver Cup, Federer pointed out that ball and court speeds were ‘basically the same’ across all tournaments.

There was also some controversy around certain events in 2025, including the Cincinnati Open. They faced backlash for slowing down their courts to improve the chances of having finals between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

However, the courts at the Dubai Tennis Championships appear to have been sped up, making them currently one of the fastest on the ATP Tour.

Dubai courts bring pace change that has had mixed reactions

This year’s Dubai Tennis Championships have been played on some of the fastest courts seen recently, which has naturally favoured big servers.

Arthur Rinderknech managed to hold serve throughout his three-set win over Jack Draper, while Tallon Griekspoor remains unbroken after two matches.

On the other hand, Jakub Mensik, Andrey Rublev and even Jenson Brooksby have all reached the quarter-finals without dropping serve.

There is no official court speed index out yet for this year’s event, but visually it feels much quicker than last year.

In 2025, according to Tennis Abstract, the court index was 1.02 – right in the middle compared to other tournaments from the previous year.

Federer has said he would like to see more variety in court speeds across the tour. But this shift towards faster conditions has not necessarily made things more entertaining for everyone watching.

Some players who usually do well with longer rallies – like Draper, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Bublik – went out earlier than expected.

Even so, the lack of consistency has added some unpredictability to the tournament line-up this year, which keeps fans guessing and makes things more interesting overall.

Roger Federer’s comments remain unanswered

It is unfortunate that Alcaraz and Sinner were not part of this year’s Dubai field, as the fast conditions would have been an interesting test for both players.

Both players have grown accustomed to slower courts, and it would have given them a chance to show they can handle the quicker pace – something Federer had called for.

Last year, the Swiss said: “We need to have not only fast courts, but what we would want to see is Alcaraz and Sinner figure it out on lightning fast [courts] and then have the same match on super slow – and then see how that matches up.”

He even suggested that tournaments were slowing down surfaces to benefit Alcaraz and Sinner’s style of play.

“I understand the safety net the tournament directors see [by] making the surface slower. For the weaker player, he has to hit extra amazing shots to beat Sinner, whereas if it’s quick, he can only maybe blast a few at the right time and he gets past.

“That’s why the tournament directors kind of like having Sinner and Alcaraz in the finals – it kind of works for the game.”

Sinner and Alcaraz decided not to play in Dubai after competing in Qatar. Both are set to return at Indian Wells later this month.

Read more: