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By Bill Mouland, Daily Mail Last updated at 00:00am on 23.02.05
The high court: Federer and Agassi on the hotel helipad
It was neither a moment for faint hearts nor an overexaggerated lob.
But at least Andre Agassi and Roger Federer could boast they were on top of their game.
Resembling from a distance tiny figures on a Subbuteo table football pitch, the players faced each other across a net strung 700ft above Dubai's Jumeirah beach.
An artificial court had been especially laid on the helipad of the £750-a-night Burj Al Arab hotel, the sail- shaped profile of which dominates the skyline.
The stars - competitors at ground level in this year's Dubai Duty Free Men's Open - were following in the footsteps of golfer Tiger Woods, who teed off at the same spot last year before the Dubai Desert Classic.
The problem, as Woods himself found, was that if the ball disappeared over the edge it would have taken a ballboy on an extra-long bungee rope to retrieve it.
' This is not a service we would normally offer to our guests,' joked a spokesman for the hotel. 'Once the ball has been hit out of play, it tends to stay out.'
The Burj Al Arab, the only seven-star hotel in the world, was erected on a purposebuilt island in the Arabian Gulf five years ago.
The world's tallest, it has 202 two-storey suites, an underwater seafood restaurant, gold mosaic floors and a fleet of white Rolls-Royces to ferry its guests around.
Overnight stays start at £750 for a 'panoramic' one bedroom suite with floor-toceiling windows overlooking the Gulf.
A slightly higher rate provides guests with a personal butler to see to their every whim, a spa and a private bar.
For an extra £695, a 'deluxe twin two-bedroom suite' is available.
The Burj Al Arab website boasts: 'This all- suite hotel reflects the finest the world has to offer.
'With your chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, discrete in-suite check in, private reception desk on every floor and a brigade of highly-trained butlers who provide round-theclock attention, you can be assured of a highly personalised service throughout your stay.'
Previous guests have included Premiership footballer Robbie Savage, who honeymooned at the hotel.
World number one Federer is the reigning champion of the Dubai event. Agassi, making his debut, won his first round match against the Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5.
