Sport360°'s tennis expert Reem Abulleil looks back on the last seven days on Tour…
It had been a packed week of tennis with Rafael Nadal triumphing in Barcelona, Maria Sharapova defending her title in Stuttgart, Francesca Schiavone winning her first trophy in almost a year in Marrakech and Lukas Rosol’s maiden title win in Bucharest.
But I have to say I have been more focused on the Arab tennis players this past week, where some of the young promising talents in the region enjoyed breakthrough tournaments.
In Tunis, 18-year-old Ons Jabeur, the highest ranked Arab in the WTA rankings and former Roland Garros junior champion, captured her first title on the women’s circuit in three years.
As a 15-year-old, Jabeur had tested herself early against the seniors and won two $10k ITF titles in July 2010 but she then got injured and her assault on the women’s tour took a bit of a detour.
But the Tunisian teenager, whose attacking game and ability to hit a wide range of different shots make for some unique and enjoyable tennis to watch, is slowly finding her bearing and her win in the $25k event on home soil is a great sign of good things to come.
Jabeur will compete in the three back-to-back $50k events in Japan, starting in Gifu this week, where she’ll get a taste of some stiff competition from several WTA veterans and high-ranked opponents.
It will prove a crucial time for the talented teenager, especially that she will have to shift her focus to her studies in June where she will be taking her high school finals. But a good run in Japan could see her break the top-200.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat captured his second title in as many weeks in the sea-side city of Sharm El Sheikh to reach a career-high ranking of 342. It’s great to see the tennis calendar back in full swing in Egypt after all the unrest had cancelled many tournaments.
Having many ITFs in the region is crucial for all Arab players to get more experience and more points without spending too much on travel and it seems the return of tennis to Egypt is already paying dividends. The 22-year-old Safwat can certainly attest to that.
Emotional moment
Lukas Rosol’s first ATP title victory in Bucharest came only 10 days after the passing of his father. The Czech gave an emotional speech after his win paying tribute to his dad, whom he believes helped him through his matches all week. What an effort from Rosol, who is now at a career-high No35 ranking.
Shot of the week – Rafa’s tweener in the Barcelona final
With Almagro serving at 4-5 30/0 in the first set, he brought Nadal in with an unintentional net cord and followed that up with a well-placed lob, but a sprinting Rafa ran back to the far end of the court, almost within touching distance of the line judges and struck a perfect between-the-legs shot down the line. The Mallorcan won the point, broke that game to take the set and eventually took the match in straights.
Bizarre reaction
The news of Rafael Nadal joining the field in Basel was bizarrely met by negative reaction from some Roger Federer fans online. News had surfaced last year that Federer will not be playing at his home tournament this season due to a conflict about appearance fees but both Federer and Nadal have been announced as confirmed participants in Basel, which you would think would be good news for tennis fans, having two of the best players ever compete in their own backyard.
But clearly not the Swiss loyalists, who tweeted some angry comments requesting the Spaniard be eliminated from the draw. What’s that about?
Quote of the week
“He’s not my type!” — Maria Sharapova inadvertently upsets the masses online when she responds to a fan question on whether she’d accept to go on a date with Rafael Nadal if he ever asked.
Stat of the week
Nadal took his perfect record against fellow Spaniards in ATP finals to a staggering 13-0 with his win over Almagro in Barcelona.
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