Defending champ in a 'new' Doha: Khachanov focused on further success

How does an ATP Tour star decide which tournaments feel like a home away from home?

Having turned pro in 2013, Karen Khachanov has developed strong connections with a host of events over his years on the tennis merry-go-round. Speaking this week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, where he has competed on four previous occasions and lifted the title in 2024, the 28-year-old acknowledged that feelings of comfort are a precious commodity in a profession where you are almost constantly on the move.

“I think after a certain number of years on Tour [you know],” Khachanov told ATPTour.com when asked the factors that attract him to certain events. “There are still tournaments that I never visited, never played, but I know my schedule pretty much related to the feelings, to the relationships with the tournaments. Also, the personal feelings, like at events where I know that I played well, let's say. I would definitely go more for those ones than to try something new.”

Khachanov may be highly familiar with the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where he holds an 8-3 record after winning seven of his past eight matches. Yet while he earned the trophy last year when the event was an ATP 250, he will step on court Monday to start his title defence in a tournament that has been newly upgraded to an ATP 500.

That change in status is reflected in the draw. World No. 21 Khachanov will take on the No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings and 2023 Doha champion, Daniil Medvedev, in the first round.

“This year it is a 500 event. I'm not seeded, and potentially you can play against any top seed right in the first round,” said World No. 21 Khachanov, who trails Medvedev 2-5 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “This is a 500 event, so it is what it is. I think it will be a tough match for him, a tough match for me as a first round especially, and I'm trying to prepare in the best way possible, trying to improve my game and get the form that I had at the end of last year.”

While facing top-quality opponents from the first round can be expected at any ATP Tour tournament, there is still plenty of diversity on offer from the events that make up the calendar. Khachanov has his own process that dictates his schedule throughout the year.

“The priority is always the conditions: Of the courts, the club, the courts, recovery area, food on site,” he said. “I would say this is always a top priority. But at the same time, obviously, when you're coming to a great city, you want to have a good hotel, a good location. At the end of the day, you need to count how much time you're spending in the hotel and how much time you spend on court. I think it's more courts versus hotel, in terms of timing. If you are at the courts a lot, you want to have a better facility around the court.”

Khachanov has enjoyed great success in Asia, where he has won four of his seven tour-level trophies. Yet even those were spread across China (Chengdu 2016, Zhuhai 2023), Qatar (Doha 2024) and Kazakhstan (Almaty 2024). He struggles to pinpoint any specific reason why a player may feel particularly comfortable at a certain event, not least because playing conditions are often so variable.

“Maybe the conditions fit, maybe the energy, the atmosphere,” he said. “It's always tough to compare one tournament to another, where you had success, and let's say, in some others, not. I would say more about the feeling of the courts, because tennis is one of the strangest sports in that the conditions might change the outcome of one single match.

“We play with different balls, different surfaces, different bounce… Even different time zones in different continents. In soccer, let's say they play with the same ball, the same league, and they play the matches every third day. They have a schedule. Here [in Doha] we could play one match, or we could play five matches. You can play in the morning, or in the evening. There are so many things that can really make an influence on the results.”

The result will be the all-important thing on Tuesday for Khachanov and Medvedev, both of whom have struggled to find their best form so far in 2025. Khachanov, a former World No. 8 who is 2-3 for the season so far after an opening-round defeat last week in Marseille, is realistic about the fact he needs to raise his game to return to winning ways against Medvedev.

“I haven’t played so great the last few events, but still at the end of the day, there's always room for improvement. I think that's what he’s seeking to have, I'm seeking to have, and hopefully it's going to be a good match for the crowd. Whoever is better this week is going to win.”