Spanish tennis star David Ferrer has defeated Tomas Berdych tonight at the 2015 Qatar ExxonMobil Open finals, 6-4, 7-5.
Much to the audience’s surprise, the 32-year-old was presented with his latest ATP trophy by former UK football star David Beckham, according to those who watched the awards ceremony:
@QFRadio2 @LauraQatar this was our weekend! #happywifehappylife pic.twitter.com/qPImoUGTTN
— Simon H (@RenegadeSi) January 11, 2015
Guess who dropped by to present the Qatar Open trophy! #beckham #Ferrer #Berdych #Doha pic.twitter.com/SVvGQtvXxX
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 10, 2015
David Beckham making a surprise appearance at the #QatarOpen final in #Doha. PSG Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is Qatar Tennis President.
— Elise Holman (@Elise_Holman) January 10, 2015
Doha was abuzz with questions about why Beckham, who apparently spoke highly of the 2022 World Cup, is in town.
But the footballer already has a relationship with sports officials in Qatar. In 2013, he had signed a contract to play for Qatar-owned Paris Saint Germain for six months, reportedly making $238,000 a week.
At the time, he said he planned to donate his salary to a children’s charity.
Did you catch the finals? Thoughts?
yAAAAAAAS David beckham
Makes a surprising change from the trophy presentations of the last 3 years.
2012 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was presented with his trophy by Nasser Ghanim Al Khelaifi, President of the Qatar Tennis Federation
2013 – Richard Gasquet was presented with his trophy by H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, the
Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority
2014 – Rafael Nada was presented with his trophy by Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Khaled bin Mohammed al-Attiyah and Nasser Al-Khelaifi
Beckham’s presence at the ceremony is surprising, but more surprising to me was that he was the guy actually presenting the trophy.
Yes, with no real conncetion to the sport.
Yes!
Having lunch at the Four Seasons yesterday, saw Beckham as well as Novak Djokovic. Our son saw him, and some doubted, until we saw that Beckham had presented the trophy. Autograph opportunity missed (!
I can see male knees, very inappropriate…reflect your respect…or maybe they are?
Lordy. “Hey, look, Beckham is here! This shows that he’s cool with our totally kosher WC bid, right. Right?”