Roger Federer will begin the New Year with a defence of the Qatar Open and by building bridges between Islam and the West here during the coming week.
The 2006 ATP Tour, starting on Monday, will see the world number one wearing the flowing local robes for photo-shoots and bearing the mantle of the favourite with similar relaxation.
Federer, who beat the Croatian hero Ivan Ljubicic for the loss of only four games in last year's final, has two special reasons for wanting to do well here again.
One is to enhance his preparation for a bid to regain the title at the Australian Open which begins in Melbourne in only two weeks time. The other is to generate momentum for his main aim of the year, maintaining the health of his computer points total. "It's a huge priority for me to maintain the number one ranking during 2006," Federer said.
He has been given a small and immediate boost in his bid to prevent a serious challenge developing from Rafael Nadal, because his nearest rival is not fit enough to compete in the first week of the new tour.
The 19-year-old French Open champion from Spain has withdrawn from the Chennai Open and has been replaced by Ljubicic. Federer has so far not talked about trying to win the 2006 French Open, the only Grand Slam to elude him, and thereby emulating Andre Agassi's achievement of becoming the only player of modern times to win all four majors. That may be because he is unsure how well he has recovered from an ankle injury which contributed to a surprise defeat in his last match in 2005, against David Nalbandian in the ATP Championships in Shanghai.
This loss is now being described by Federer as "one of my greatest results under the circumstances," suggesting that he was far from fully fit, and that probably the last time he completed a tournament in decent shape was at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, fully three months ago.
Hence his caution. "The Australian Open (in two weeks time) always gives you a clue as to how the year will be," Federer said, in what sounded like a further attempt to delay the pressure of expectations.