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Vinay Nayudu
Doha
The Qatar Total Open has been a great place for top and upcoming players to get spotted. Be it Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who’s played here in the qualifiers before going on to become a Grand Slam champion in 2018, or Latvian Jelena Ostapenko who rose into the final as a 17-year-old in Doha in 2016 before going on to become a Grand Slam winner at the French Open in 2017.
Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who’s the crowd favourite, is back now having become the first Arab woman to make the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event.
Adding to the list of such feisty and delightful players this time is Egyptian Mayar Sherif.
The 24-year-old and always smiling player has been breaking barriers of late. She first served notice of her talent last year when she shook the then World No.4 Karolina Pliskova , 6-7(9), 6-2, 6-4 to pass the first hurdle at Roland Garros.
That was after she became the first Egyptian woman to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam. This year, last month, she made history again defeating France’s Chloe Paquet 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the Australian Open to become the first Egyptian woman to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam.
Stepping stones of big success perhaps, one could say. And keeping up the journey despite the global pandemic challenges and hassles, Sherif is now in Doha to play in the Qatar Total Open 2021.
“Obviously it means a lot because finally, this is a barrier that I had to pass, a mental barrier,” Sherif had told reporters after her win in Melbourne recently.
Currently ranked No.131, Sherif is primed to continue to raise the bar for Egyptian tennis. She says the support at home is the opposite of a burden, buoying her to new heights as she hopes to inspire the next generation of young Egyptians to pick up a racquet.
“When someone tells me, ‘Oh, I wish one day to be like you’, I go, ‘No, you have to be better, you have to achieve something more, you have to go for more’,” she said back come recently.
“People, a lot of times, they stop me, they want a picture, they just say good luck for the next,” Sherif said, when asked if she is recognised back in Cairo.
And so she was in Doha too on her arrival at the Hamad International Airport a day ago. Flashing smiles she posed for the cameras even until she settled into the car to get to the hotel where the tennis stars are stationed for Qatar Total Open 2021.
Sherif will be seen in action in the opening round against Maria Sakkari of Greece at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex on Monday.
Doha
The Qatar Total Open has been a great place for top and upcoming players to get spotted. Be it Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who’s played here in the qualifiers before going on to become a Grand Slam champion in 2018, or Latvian Jelena Ostapenko who rose into the final as a 17-year-old in Doha in 2016 before going on to become a Grand Slam winner at the French Open in 2017.
Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who’s the crowd favourite, is back now having become the first Arab woman to make the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event.
Adding to the list of such feisty and delightful players this time is Egyptian Mayar Sherif.
The 24-year-old and always smiling player has been breaking barriers of late. She first served notice of her talent last year when she shook the then World No.4 Karolina Pliskova , 6-7(9), 6-2, 6-4 to pass the first hurdle at Roland Garros.
That was after she became the first Egyptian woman to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam. This year, last month, she made history again defeating France’s Chloe Paquet 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the Australian Open to become the first Egyptian woman to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam.
Stepping stones of big success perhaps, one could say. And keeping up the journey despite the global pandemic challenges and hassles, Sherif is now in Doha to play in the Qatar Total Open 2021.
“Obviously it means a lot because finally, this is a barrier that I had to pass, a mental barrier,” Sherif had told reporters after her win in Melbourne recently.
Currently ranked No.131, Sherif is primed to continue to raise the bar for Egyptian tennis. She says the support at home is the opposite of a burden, buoying her to new heights as she hopes to inspire the next generation of young Egyptians to pick up a racquet.
“When someone tells me, ‘Oh, I wish one day to be like you’, I go, ‘No, you have to be better, you have to achieve something more, you have to go for more’,” she said back come recently.
“People, a lot of times, they stop me, they want a picture, they just say good luck for the next,” Sherif said, when asked if she is recognised back in Cairo.
And so she was in Doha too on her arrival at the Hamad International Airport a day ago. Flashing smiles she posed for the cameras even until she settled into the car to get to the hotel where the tennis stars are stationed for Qatar Total Open 2021.
Sherif will be seen in action in the opening round against Maria Sakkari of Greece at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex on Monday.
