The most detailed account of what happened in the United Arab Emirates was shared by Finnish doubles player Harri Heliovaara.
"We played the tournament honourably and came out victorious, but as you may have seen in the news, the situation in the Middle East has been very bad for a day and a half now. We planned to fly back to Finland on Saturday night, but we’re still not sure how things will turn out," wrote the two-time Grand Slam winner in his first blog post at the end of the weekend, on which he won the doubles tournament in Dubai.
According to him, communication from the organisers and ATP management was intense from the start, but ultimately didn’t resolve anything. The doubles final was even played while rockets were flying over Dubai.
"A few hours before the final, we received our first briefing about the situation from the tournament organisers. Besides the supervisor, the ATP security manager happened to be there, and the tournament director - who has strong ties to the local authorities - spoke on behalf of the organisers," wrote Heliovaara.
By then, much of the airspace in neighbouring countries had already been closed. From Sunday morning, not a single plane left Dubai.
There were 41 people left in the city - players, referees, physiotherapists, data collectors, and other members of the organising team. "Of course, there were also coaches, other team members, and their families," the Finn added. As the wait dragged on and the situation grew more uncertain, some began trying to escape the city on their own.
There were two possible routes to safety: by road to Oman or Saudi Arabia, where the airspaces were still open. But it’s a five-hour drive from Dubai to Muscat in Oman, and 10 hours to Saudi Arabia.
Border trouble: 'One of you can’t leave the country'
Heliovaara was in Dubai with his wife, Sini, and their two young children - a seven-year-old daughter and a son who was almost three. He was also accompanied by his British doubles partner, Henry Patten. On Monday, their small group decided to try to cross the border out of the Emirates. The story he describes is one you wouldn’t want to experience yourself.
"The tournament organisers helped us arrange transportation, but things started going wrong right away. Instead of the promised large SUV, a sedan showed up first, and we couldn’t all fit. In the end, we set off about an hour late," he recounted their first adventure.
"When we reached the Oman border, we ran into trouble at the very first checkpoint. Apparently, our car’s documents didn’t have the right permit to cross the border with a UAE license plate.
"Then they sent another car for us, but again, we couldn’t all fit. The transport company quickly managed to arrange a minivan from the Omani side so we could continue our journey. Somehow, we even convinced that vehicle to pick us up on the UAE side of the border, so we didn’t have to cross the border on foot or by bus like all the other travellers," the Finn wrote.
Just when it seemed they had managed to cross the border, new problems arose.
"We had everything packed, but the border guards at the exit control wouldn’t let us through. To make matters worse, the car that brought us to the border had already left, so we had to wait another hour for it to return, repack all our things, reinstall the child seats in the two original cars, and head back to the first checkpoint.
"There, they told us that one of us was not allowed to leave the country, but no one could tell us who or why."
'Kids handled it amazingly well'
Time was running out. It was clear they wouldn’t make their flight from Muscat. Heliovaara’s group decided to return to their Dubai hotel and regroup.
"It wasn’t a pleasant trip, especially since we ended up sitting in a packed car for seven hours, having to move our things and reinstall the child seats several times. Luckily, we had snacks with us, and the kids handled it amazingly well. Even so, it was tough," said the player, who only started playing top-level tennis in his thirties.
From their hotel room back in Dubai, the whole family watched as planes occasionally took off and the airspace over the Persian Gulf slowly reopened. The demand to get out of the Emirates was enormous.
Booking flights was impossible - Emirates and Etihad announced all flights were cancelled until Thursday, though some individual evacuation flights were still operating.
"ATP and the tournament organisers are still trying to get us on these flights, and of course, there are plenty of other companies and private individuals looking to profit. Prices are sky-high, sometimes tens of thousands of euros per seat. We decided not to rush and are now quietly waiting for more opportunities, which will hopefully come soon with the help of the tournament and ATP," Heliovaara wrote in his blog while he waited for answers.
Back to the safety of Europe
Like the trio of Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, and Karen Khachanov, he considered chartering a private plane. But even that wasn’t easy. "They also ran into several problems on their way to Muscat - it wasn’t simple for them either," he noted.
In the end, luck was on his side. On Wednesday, flights from Dubai to Europe resumed, though only in limited numbers. "We managed to get tickets for a morning flight to Milan. Now we’re at Dubai airport, hoping we’ll make it home," he wrote, still uncertain.
In his next update on Thursday morning, he reassured all his loved ones and friends: "We managed to board, and as I write this, we’re flying over Italian airspace. We’ll probably arrive in Finland on Wednesday evening..."