It's the everyday employees at the barclays Dubai Tennis championships who make sure everything runs smoothly.
Adeep Maliakkal, 32, has no mean feat on his hands — to organise, account for and schedule 120 ball kids. This, he says, is easier than it sounds, because they're all so enthusiastic.
What is your job at the Dubai Tennis Championships?
My job is supervisor of the ball kids. I'm also supervising the tennis racquet stringing.
How long have you been working at the tennis?
I first started working at the tennis in Dubai in 2002.
What is your normal job?
I work for E-Sports, which used to be called Clark Francis tennis. I joined them as tennis assistant in 1999 and now work as a tennis coach and sports administrator. We are also official sports providers for the GEMS schools — I am right-hand man for Clark Francis.
How busy are you?
I'm supervising ball kids and tennis stringing and the E-sport programmes are still running, so it's very busy.
What is involved with supervising the ball kids?
The ball kids' training for the tennis starts in September — preference is given to the children of Aviation Club members, Clark Francis tennis kids and children from a couple of the sponsors of the championships. We have 12 to 13 training sessions between January and February before the start of the tournament, which is quite a short space of time. We send five kids to the French Open every year — there's a series of tennis matches between them and the winner gets an all-expenses paid trip to be at the tournament in France.
How many people supervise the ball kids?
During the tournament there are four supervisors. There is a draw on the previous day, so once we know which courts are operating the next day we schedule the ball kids. There are 12 teams of 120 kids at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Without these kids, it's impossible to run the tournaments. They are put into groups of 10 and each group has a captain, which is one of the ball kids.
Which team goes to centre court?
The supervisor schedules which team goes to which court, but every kid wants to go to centre court. Even parents are keen for their kids to go to centre court and be watched by millions of people. Every ball kid has a chance to work on the centre court. They are on 45 minutes rotation, so they don't get tired. Every day the kids have a briefing at 1.30pm where they're reminded of the importance of the tournament, so there's no excuse for them to be late for play. We also run an internal ball kids tournament, one for girls and one for boys: the prize is for one boy and one girl to carry the racquets for the players in the finals. The 12 team captains work as ball kids at the finals.
Is it busier than last year?
Normally we recruit around 180 kids, because if we have more teams, it's easier to run. However, it's quite tight with 120 kids, but there is a problem with them missing school time. If we have more teams, we can rotate them more.
Do you enjoy working at the tennis?
I really enjoy it. I've really learnt a lot from Clark Francis who has been here for 20 years. I've been in Dubai for nine years, and every year I learn something different. It's a great feeling to be here.
Will you come again next year?
Of course!
