Dagan-Fruchtman is also the first Israeli tennis player to compete in the United Arab Emirates since the normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel was signed.
The athlete received a free ticket to Dubai from the organizers of the Al Habtoor Challenge tournament with $100,000 in prize money and ranking points in the world round at stake. The tournament will be taking place for the 23rd time in Dubai with the message "Bring the stars of tomorrow to Dubai today."
Dagan-Fruchtman, 17, is from Raanana and is an athlete for the National Tennis Academy. She is ranked among the top eight tennis players in Israel and among the top 200 in the world.
She will be joined by an official delegation from the Tennis and Education Centers in Israel to promote tennis cooperation between the two nations, including former tennis player Andy Ram, who received a special permit to compete at a tournament in the UAE in 2009 after international pressure following the refusal to grant tennis player Shahar Pe'er a visa for a women's tournament in Dubai.
After Ram was given permission, the UAE stated that Israeli athletes who qualified for tournaments in the country would be given special permission to enter. Pe'er was given a permit the next year to participate in the Dubai tournament.
"We are excited that an Israeli tennis player is participating for the first time in a tennis tournament in Dubai openly and freely," said Erez Vider, CEO of the Tennis and Education Centers in Israel, in a press release. "We thank the organizers of the tournament for Mika's invitation and are convinced that her participation can open up a wide range of possibilities for joint tournaments between the countries and for the promotion of tennis throughout the Middle East."
"We wish Mika success in the tournament and we will be happy to host female and male players from the UAE at our Tennis and Education Centers in Israel," added Vider.
"We have past players here with vast knowledge in tennis, promising young coaches and excellent infrastructure, who can certainly connect to the extensive activities in Dubai in the field of tennis, both in developing talents and in competitive and community settings in Israel, for young Jews and Arabs alike," Hans Philius, director of the professional fields at the centers.
The Al Habtoor Challenge tournament was founded by Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, founding chairman of Al Habtoor Group, a pro-Israel businessman from the UAE who called for peace with Israel well before the normalization agreement was signed. The tournament was founded to encourage the development of women's tennis in the UAE.