Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic lead the field for the Dubai Championships beginning on February 21st.
Federer is a four-time champion and he participated in one of the tournament's most iconic moments back in 2005 when he scaled the Burj Al Arab along with Andre Agassi for a practise session on a specially laid court on the roof of the famous hotel.
On court, the Swiss will be hoping to put one over Novak Djokovic ahead of next month's Masters Series events. However if Djokovic comes out firing as he did at the Australian Open, it's hard to see anyone stopping him.
He's won this event for the past two years and looks in pole position to claim a hat-trick of titles. However due to the Davis Cup final, the Serb did not enjoy a proper off season and it will be interesting to see whether fatigue starts to hit him at all over the next couple of months.
Mikhail Youzhny has twice been a Dubai finalist, denied by Federer back in 2007 and Djokovic last year. The Russian should feature strongly again but it's unlikely he will threaten the top two.
Andy Murray's withdrawal has denied the tournament of another top five star but the field is still incredibly strong with Tomas Berdych, Ivan Ljubicic and Marcos Baghdatis in the mix.
Watch out for Gilles Simon. The Sydney champion gave Federer a nasty scare at the Australian Open and he could be a surprise package this week.
