Tennis Tournaments - February 2012

After an exciting Australian Open 2012 which saw world #1 Novak Djokovic continue to dominate men's tennis, and newly crowned Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka rise to the world #1 ranking in women's tennis, February continues with a list of tennis tournaments where fans around the world will be able to watch the best tennis players in action. Patriotic fervor will be up as competition between top countries' tennis teams will heat up with the annual Fed Cup and Davis Cup being held in the first two weeks of February. As this is an Olympic year, top players who have previously skipped playing for their countries in this yearly tournament are going to commit to make themselves eligible for the Olympics in London this summer. Top players rejoining their national teams this year include Roger Federer, Venus Williams and Serena Williams.

In the ATP tour, there are four tennis tournaments in February that will be offering more than a million dollars worth of prize money. The are the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament at Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at Memphis, U.S.A, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships at Dubai, U.A.E, and the Abierto Mexicano Telcel at Acapulco, Mexico. The Dubai tournament has previously been the most anticipated tournament for February as the participation amongst top players is very high. The tournament in Dubai offers lucrative appearance money and has previously been voted as the personal favorites of a lot of tennis players. Djokovic is the defending champion in Dubai and won his third straight title in 2011 by beating Roger Federer in straight sets. Other smaller tennis tournaments in February on the men's tour are being held in Sao Paulo, Brazil; San Jose, USA; Marseilles, France; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Delray Beach, USA. The tournaments will be played in hard and clay surfaces - both indoors and outdoors.

In the WTA tour, a couple of two million dollar tennis tournaments are scheduled at the gulf nations of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar was won last year by Vera Zvonareva after she beat Caroline Wozniacki in the championship match. It will start this year on February 13. The week after that is the Dubai Duty Free championships in Dubai, UAE. Caroline Wozniacki won the title last year after beating Svetlana Kuznetsova. With the win in Dubai, Wozniacki rose to her latest streak at the top of the women's rankings - a position she lost at this year's Australian Open. The third major tennis tournament in February is the Open GDF Suez in Paris, France. The tournament starts on February 6 and will feature Austalian Open finalist Maria Sharapova. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is the defending champion but she will not be playing this year.

Other minor tennis tournaments for February in the WTA calendar include the PTT Pattaya Open (Pattaya City, Thailand), the XX COPA BBVA COLSANITAS (Bogotá, Colombia), the Memphis WTA International Event (Memphis, TN-USA), Whirlpool Monterrey Open (Monterrey, Mexico), and the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL (Acapulco, Mexico). To all tennis fans around the world, enjoy the February 2012 tennis tournaments.