QTF starts planning for new tennis stadium with retractable roof

The 2017 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which was the competition’s 25th edition, concluded recently with Serbian Novak Djokovic lifting the trophy after beating Briton Andy Murray.

With more than a quarter century of big tournament experience under its belt, the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) is starting to dream bigger. And a new, state-of-the-art tennis stadium with retractable roof is at the heart of their plans.

Qatar ExxonMobil Open Tournament Director Karim Alami, said a new stadium was in the planning stage.

 “We’ve a new project and we’re going to start building a new stadium soon. It’ll be a 12,000-seater close-and-open roof stadium. The capacity will cater to all tennis lovers in Qatar and from around the world,” he told Qatar Tribune in an interview.

He said the current stadium was unable to hold all fans and that prompted them to think of expansion plans.

“The present stadium is always full and people are always asking for tickets. More top players are coming to Doha. We aim to raise the ATP tournament from the current 250 ranking points status to level 2000. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to host a bigger tournament in the near future,” he said.

The new stadium is currently in the planning phase and further details are not available at the moment.

The Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex has been holding tennis tournaments since its opening on December 16, 1992. The first Qatar Open was held in January, 1993.

The current facility contains 27 hard courts and a stadium court with a capacity of 4,106 spectators which was enhanced to 6,911 in 2008.