Dubai Duty Free Championship Day 1 Schedule of Play

A week after the ladies had their run in Dubai the men start their tournament today. And it starts off with a bang as Djokovic returns to competitive tennis after his AO victory. Let's see who will join him.

The program will be kicked off by Dubai resident Karen Khachanov and Mikhail Kukushkin. Khachanov has been playing woefully for quite some time so maybe he will start winning at 'home'. Kukushkin is a tough opponent especially at hard courts so Karen will have to be careful.

After them, the Dubai crowd will see Safwat play against Kohlschreiber. Both are veterans who are still playing on the tour. Kohlschreiber is obviously the bigger name and better play so he should win this one without issues. We will also see Andrey Rublev on the courts today. He is set to play against Italian youngster Musetti.

The night session in Dubai is reserved for the favourites to win this tournament. Gael Monfils will play against Fucsovics who has beaten Monfils before. The Frenchman will have a tough job against a play who loves hard courts and possess a strong serve. That match will close out the program.

Before him, kicking off the night session will be Djokovic. He will play against Wild Card recipient Jaziri. It will be interesting to see how Djokovic looks in Dubai after a lengthy break. He usually has a bit of trouble getting into the swing of this but his opponent is not good enough to beat him even on if Novak has a bad day which rarely happens as it is.

*All times are displayed in the local Dubai time (GMT +4)