Steve Riley, who was in his early 20s when he first came to the UAE from the UK in the 1980s. The Briton quickly secured a position at Al Ain Hilton, before moving to Dubai Sheraton.
But beyond his work, what stands out for Riley about the UAE is tennis.
“I played a lot in the community tennis tournaments in Dubai before and even won the Dubai Tennis Open,” Riley said.
This time, however, Riley was in Dubai for a different reason.
Riley is a successful businessman in the UK and has worked hard to create better opportunities for access to tennis in his native country, however, he started up the Ballkid Project 2025 as part of an initiative to find a talented junior at just the right age and with great potential who attracts Dubai’s attention.
“Through this project, we trained 20 young people and the one who stood out the most was Jack Frew, who was selected to be a ballkid at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships,” Riley said.
For Jack, who arrived in Dubai with his parents from the U.K., being a ball kid on Centre Court at the Middle East’s biggest tennis tournament was a dream come true.
“I really enjoyed my time here; the whole experience was so nice,” said Jack, who also plays tennis.
The 14-year-old got to be a ball kid in matches including doubles of two-time Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff and then-world number five Jessica Pegula, who was the eventual tournament winner.
“It was incredible being on the court for their matches. I never thought I’d get a chance like this to be out there on the court with these big stars. It’s a dream come true moment,” Jack added.
Riley said she was glad to see a smile on Jack’s face as he made his way into the Centre Court for Gauff’s match.
“You know, when I came back to the UK in 1989, tennis was a very elite sport. I wanted it to be available for the people, and this is why I started my company that manages public tennis courts, and now we also have padel courts. To give Jack this opportunity, I feel so happy,” he said.
If Riley had never worked in Dubai, the opportunity for a young tennis fan to be on centre court here would also have never happened.
“I am very grateful towards Dubai because working out here back in the day gave me confidence to start my business in UK,” he said.
“I’ve got over a hundred staff and a hundred tennis and padel courts in the UK now. So I — you know, I was in my early 20s when I came to Dubai and I was a very shy young man.
“But I developed confidence attending the community events in Dubai, when everybody knew everybody; they were such small places those days.”
So Dubai grew and took off like a rocket, but Riley also became this self-assured guy who could kindle a sense of aspiration in a little kid.
“Meeting Coco and Pegula, and doing the ballkid’s role in their matches has now inspired me to play tennis more seriously,” Jack said.
Will train hard with my game to play big tournaments such as Dubai one day!”