The United Arab Emirates denied Israeli player Shahar Peer a visa last week, so she wasn’t able to compete in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has taken action in reference to Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Dubai Tournament to mend the situation and prevent it from happening again.

Here’s what, Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, stated:

The actions taken today are intended to redress the wrongs suffered by Shahar Peer, who was victimized by an unjust policy of discrimination by the UAE. These actions are also intended to send a clear message that our Tour will not tolerate discrimination of any kind and that we will never allow this situation to happen again, in UAE or elsewhere. Thanks to the courage of Shahar, and all those individuals and organizations – including her fellow players – that supported her, the UAE has changed their policy and another barrier of discrimination has fallen.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour actions in reference to Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Dubai Tournament:

• Shahar Peer Ranking Points: The awarding of 130 ranking points to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the points that she earned during the same week in 2008 that she was unable to defend this past week in Dubai.

• Shahar Peer Prize Money: The awarding of US$44,250 to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the average prize money that she earned per tournament (singles and doubles) in 2008. Read more »

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Israeli world No.48 Shahar Peer has been denied entry into the United Arab Emirates for the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, and will hence not be able to play the tournament which features all the world's top-10 ranked women's players and for which she is qualified by ranking.

UAE have not explained the reason for not giving Peer a visa, but the country does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

WTA chief executive Larry Scott said the women's tour was "deeply disappointed" by the decision.

"Ms Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it's regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right," he said.

"Ms Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally."

Peer was supposed to play 15th seed Anna Chakvetadze in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. (source: BBC, photo: AnalogKid203)

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Disappointed with the 2008 tennis season, Israel’s Shahar Peer is training with her new coach Pablo Giacopelli, hoping for better results in 2009.

"If I am not mistaken, this is the first year in my life from the perspective of tennis (and ranking) that I did not advance and I even went backwards, even though I do not have a doubt that it will only motivate me," said the 21-year-old Peer in her blog.

She spent one month training in South Africa, and is now back in her home country where she is participating in the Israel Championship.

"I don't feel that number 38 in the world is my true position. I won't remain there for long. I feel that I'm playing much better than that," said the Israeli world No.1.

"I don't think I want to erase and forget all about 2008. You can't always be on top and win every match. I think there's much to learn from this year. I matured in 2008 and learned a lot about myself. I learned how to deal with difficulties and how to recover from them."

Peer had been in Top 20 every week between first cracking it on November 13, 2006 until after this year’s Roland Garros. (source: The Jerusalem Post, photo: AnalogKid203)

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Three seeds fell on the first day of the 2008 US Open: Russians Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Kirilenko, and Shahar Peer of Israel.

Chakvetadze, seeded tenth, suffered her earliest Grand Slam defeat in more than three years falling 1-6 6-2 6-3 to compatriot Ekaterina Makarova, ranked 56th in the world. Chakvetadze took the opening set in 25 minutes and looked to be on a good way to victory, but in the end she became a first-round loser.

No.22 seed Kirilenko lost to Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-3 3-6 6-4 and this year’s result is her worst at the US Open, before she reached second or third round.

Peer, seed No.24, got eliminated by China’s Li Na 2-6 6-0 6-1 despite superb play in the opening set. "In the first set I felt like I was playing against a wall," said Li after her great turnaround. (photos: Getty Images)

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At a forum about women’s tennis I read that after two years of being a soldier, world No.18 Shahar Peer completed her duty, gave back her uniform and received official release documents.

Shahar Peer comes from Israel, a country where military service is obligatory for both men and women. Being a celebrity, Shahar could have avoided the service, but she didn’t. Of course, as a tennis star, she had certain privileges and her military service was often just symbolic, but still, it’s nice that she wanted to do her part.

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