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Former Dubai champion Amélie Mauresmo made some new friends at a local school where she had nothing but praise for the first class tennis facilities.
"I'm delighted to see the school has tennis courts," she explained to the youngsters. "I didn't even have one court at my school and my parents didn't play themselves."
The French star received a warm welcome from hundreds of children at the Dubai British School on Sunday, when she made a special visit to the school, which caters for children aged from 3 to 18.
After a brief introduction from the school's principal, Val Thomas-Peter, the former world number one talked about her early life and gave the teenage audience an opportunity to ask questions about her life as a professional player.
Fortunate
And the answers were quite surprising. Expecting her favourite subject to be sport, Mauresmo shocked her young audience by saying she loved maths.
She said: "I enjoyed maths and always attended school. I made many good friends. I am very fortunate that I'm living a dream by playing tennis professionally. I guess tennis chose me, as I became inspired to play after watching Roland Garros when I was four or five.
"In my mind it was always so clear that tennis would be my life. A doubt never entered my mind to turn professional, but the key for everyone is to have a passion and try to do your best in whatever you do."
Mauresmo is appearing at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships for the fifth time in her career, having captured the 2002 title with victory over French compatriot Sandrine Testud. Last year she finished runner-up to Justine Henin and is also a former Wimbledon and Australian Open winner.
Unseeded
She added: "I really enjoy coming back to Dubai as it has its own atmosphere and the people look after you.
"I haven't had the best of starts to the 2008 season, but I'm sure I can re-build my confidence and improve throughout the year."
The 28-year-old is unseeded at the $1.5 million (Dh5.5 million) event and will meet a qualifier in the first round, with a potential clash against fifth seed Maria Sharapova — the reigning Australian Open champion — in the second round.
Four-time winner Henin leads a strong women's field at the 2008 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, which includes seven of the world's top 10 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free, the owners and organisers of the award-winning event, said: "It's wonderful to see Amélie competing in Dubai once again and we always love having her with us."
Infectious
"Amélie's personality and love for the game is infectious and we hope the time spent with the children has helped t inspire them to achieve in whatever they choose to do in life."
Principal Val Thomas-Peter said: "The visit was so exciting for the children. She sent such a good, strong message to them and they all enjoyed meeting her. I was also very impressed with their questions.
"The most touching moment for me was when a teenage student who is a huge tennis fan came up to me when Mauresmo had left and said he would remember this day for the rest of his life. He said he couldn't believe he had been so close to such an amazing tennis star."
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