“We’ll take you home”, ATP ‘reassures’ Medvedev, Rublev and tennis players stuck in Dubai

Fear for tennis players stranded in Dubai. Over 40 people including players, referees and staff members or workers of the ATP circuit are stranded in the United Arab Emirates after playing the 500 tournament in Dubai due to the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran, which led to the outbreak of a new war in the Middle East. Tehran’s missiles hit many countries in the area, including Dubai, leading to the closure of the airspace.

Among the stranded tennis players, with no possibility of returning home at the moment, there are Daniil Medvedev, winner of the tournament, Tallon Griekspoor, finalist who was unable to take to the court due to an injury, Andrey Rublev and several doubles players including Marcelo Arevalo, Mate Pavic, Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.

The ATP press release

Today, Monday 2 March, the ATP released an official statement to reassure players and fans: “The ATP is carefully monitoring the situation in the Middle East, remaining in continuous contact with the players, their teams and the local authorities”, we read on the circuit’s official channels.

The ATP has issued the following statement on player safety in Dubai. pic.twitter.com/k3UwbAeO11

— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) March 2, 2026

“The health, wellbeing and safety of players, our staff and tournament staff is our priority. We can confirm that a small number of players, with their teams, have remained stranded in Dubai. Travel arrangements remain subject to ongoing assessment, in line with airline operations and official guidance.”

Heliovaara’s testimony

Direct testimony of what is happening in Dubai came from the Finnish doubles player Harri Heliovaara: “It is possible to leave the Emirates only by land via Oman or Saudi Arabia, where the airspace is open at least for the moment, but even there it would not be an easy journey” he wrote on his blog.

“It takes about five hours to get to Muscat, but according to the information we received, there are heavy traffic jams at the border and arranging adequate transportation is difficult, because a car with a UAE license plate is not allowed to drive in Oman without permission and you cannot cross the border on foot,” Heliovaara said, “the journey to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia takes more than ten hours and the road after the border is quite rough. So it is not an ideal itinerary without proper preparation.”

The situation in Dubai, at least for the moment, seems to be under control: “The organizers offer hotel accommodation and full board, and otherwise everything seems to work normally,” said the tennis player.