Dubai: Barclays, who have been sponsoring the Dubai Tennis Championships, Title sponsors, cannot see any reason why the bank will not consider a fresh deal with the region's premier tennis competition after the three-year agreement expires in 2010.

"This has been a great event for us from the first year (2008) and the crowds have grown even more this year as per the statistics," said Ahmad Khan, Barclays chief executive for New Markets, Global Retail and Commercial Banking, yesterday.

Dubai Duty Free, the owners and organisers of this annual tournament, last year signed a $9 million (Dh33 million) agreement with Barclays for the sponsorship of the ATP500 and Premier 5 events on the ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tours respectively.

The deal runs through till 2010 - the same time as when the competition moves to the new stadium at the Dubai Sports City.

The announcement marked Barclays's first foray into professional tennis sponsorship anywhere in the world. This was followed by the bank sponsoring the end-of-season Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Barclays was pleased with the great brand awareness that occurred owing to the success of the tournament.

"It gives us a great brand awareness value and it accomplishes our objectives," Khan noted.

Asked whether they would consider renewing of the agreement he said: "So far, we see nothing wrong with the event. We will of course evaluate all things when the time is right and then take a decision. Right now, it is too early for this."

Barclays are also sponsors of the English Premier League and the Churchill Cup - the annual rugby union tournament contested by teams from Canada, England and the United States.