Fabien Le Floc’h, Media365: published on Tuesday March 3, 2026 at 3:58 p.m.
Maintained despite the war in Iran, the Fujairah Challenger tournament which is currently being played in the United Arab Emirates may well not come to an end.
The world of sport is, on its scale, impacted by the war which began last Saturday with Israeli-American strikes in Iran. Several professional football championships are thus suspended in the Persian Gulf, while several tennis players (such as Daniil Medvedev or Andrey Rublev) are stranded in the region due to the closure of airspace, as in Dubai for example.
But, a few dozen kilometers from the Burj Khalifa, the Fujairah Challenger started as if nothing had happened, or almost nothing, in the United Arab Emirates. Located 120 kilometers from Dubai, the city saw several missiles pass through the sky on the sidelines of the war in Iran but that did not prevent the ATP from confirming the tournament would take place on Sunday evening. A decision which seems surreal given the potentially dramatic consequences for the players, but also for the volunteers, the referees and even the spectators.
Interception of an Iranian drone
After an almost normal first day on Monday, the tournament was quickly overcome by panic on Tuesday. The match between the Belarusian Daniil Ostapenkov and the Japanese Matsuoka Hayato was abruptly interrupted by the organization and the two players had to run, in the company of the referees and ball boys, to take cover in the middle of the match. The reason? An alarm triggered by the interception of an Iranian drone near the port of Fujairah. An interception which sparked a fire in the oil industrial zone of Fujairah, without causing any injuries.
Such a scene necessarily raises questions about security around this Challenger tournament in which three French players are engaged. Felix Balshaw is one of them, and he was supposed to play his second round of qualifying late this morning, after playing his first round match without any problems on Monday. However, it is not certain that he will one day be able to play it. This Tuesday afternoon, the competition was still at a standstill.
