Ons Jabeur’s historic efforts inspire Moroccan teen tennis duo to dream big

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Malak El Allami became the first Moroccan girl to win a singles match at Wimbledon when she advanced to second round of the juniors draw. (Daniel Kopatsch)
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Updated 15 July 2023
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Ons Jabeur’s historic efforts inspire Moroccan teen tennis duo to dream big

  • Malak El-Allami and Aya El-Aouni both cite Tunisian pro as role model
  • Jabeur is the most successful Arab tennis player in history

A few days ago, Malak El-Allami, a 16-year-old from Casablanca, became the first Moroccan female to win a singles match at Wimbledon when she advanced to the second round of the juniors draw.

El-Allami, who turns 17 later this month, is currently ranked 41 in the ITF world junior rankings. She teamed up with her compatriot Aya El-Aouni to win a round in the Roland Garros junior doubles event in Paris a few weeks ago.

El-Aouni entered the top 30 in the world junior rankings in May and, at 18, is preparing to step up to the professional tour.

In separate interviews at Wimbledon this week, El-Allami and El-Aouni were asked who their favorite player was growing up. Both responded without hesitation: “Ons Jabeur.”

Jabeur is the most successful Arab tennis player in history. She reached No.2 in the world last year after making two major finals. On July 15, the Tunisian has a chance to become the first African-born Grand Slam singles champion and the first from the Arab world.

Jabeur has always reminded the public that she is “100 percent a product of Tunisia” and her success on the global stage has inspired El-Allami, El-Aouni, and countless others from the region to dream of following in her footsteps.

Egyptian Mayar Sherif hit a career-high ranking of 31 last month, and was seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time at this year’s Wimbledon. Sherif says witnessing Jabeur’s ascent to the top echelons of the sport pushes her to work harder.

It’s no different for the Moroccan teens as they embark on their own journeys.  

“She’s a really great person. Whenever we see her here at Wimbledon, she says hi and asks about my matches and everything,” El-Allami said of Jabeur, who knows El-Allami’s older sister Fatima from their days together on the junior circuit.

“It helps to see players like Ons and Mayar do so well, because you see people from countries that are close to yours, and from cultures that are close to yours, achieving so many great things, while people always say that tennis is not for us.

“When you see them doing great things, you believe even more and it motivates you to work very hard,” El-Allami added.

El-Aouni marvels at Jabeur’s “special game” and says it’s perfectly suited for grass, a surface the Moroccan is not too familiar with and has struggled on this week in the junior event.

Both El-Allami and El-Aouni come from tennis-playing families.

“I started playing in Casablanca way before I can remember and I fell in love with the sport,” said El-Allami. “My dad is a coach, and my brothers as well, so I started playing with my brother and I started getting better, then I got into the national tennis center and I’ve been practicing with them forever. I really hope to do great things in the sport.”

El-Allami is coached by her father Mokhtar, her brothers Mohamed and Omar, and also gets help from the Moroccan Tennis Federation, who have provided French coach Cyril Genevois to accompany her at Wimbledon.

She says the federation, as well as the Moroccan National Olympic Committee, have invested a lot in her, covering her travel costs to tournaments, and providing coaches and physios.

Wimbledon was the first time El-Allami had played a match on grass. She was unable to play in the junior grass-court event in Roehampton the previous week due to delays in her UK entry visa. But despite feeling uncomfortable at first, her aggressive play helped her get an opening-round victory over American Anya Murthy.

El-Allami said she has gained more belief in herself over the last two years, since she started playing well against tough opposition. She is ambitious by nature and speaks with confidence and wisdom beyond her years.

“I’m someone who, if I’m doing something, I want to be the best at it. Because if I’m doing it anyways, then I might as well be the best,” she declared.

“In the 2021 Junior Billie Jean King Cup, Morocco came sixth and that was a first for Arabs and Africa. We played with the best in the world in our categories, so that made us believe that we’re close and we could compete with them,” she added. “So I think it’s then that I started to believe more in what we could do in Morocco.”

Besides Jabeur, El-Allami also admires Serena Williams “because she has such an aggressive game and her mentality is really strong,” Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal, “because everything Nadal does is just so impressive.”

She hasn’t decided yet if she will go to university in the US and play college tennis, or if she will pursue a career on the professional tour straight out of high school.

“The goal is to have a career as a pro tennis player. I’m not against the idea of college. So if, in these two years, I don’t have a lot of success, I will go to college, as Mayar did, and now she’s playing really well,” explained El-Allami, noting how Sherif excelled for Pepperdine University before transitioning to the professional circuit and rocketing up the rankings. “Even if you go to college and keep working hard and have your goals in mind, then why shouldn’t it work?”

El-Allami trains at the SOC club, Stade Olympique Casablancais, back home and says she and El-Aouni practice together almost every day. “I think it’s an excellent thing because we push each other to do great things and as we practice with each other every day, when we see each other doing good, we believe even more in what we can do,” she said.

There aren’t many others at their level though, and travelling abroad for university could help her share the court with tougher opposition.

El-Aouni got into tennis through her father Abdelrahim and is currently coached by her uncle Hamid Abdelrazaq.

Their families have known each other since before Malak and Aya were born, which naturally led to the pair becoming good friends, practice partners and teammates.

El-Allami has started playing ITF professional events but admitted that, mentally, she still has work to do in order to get the results she knows she can achieve.

“I see some players that, if I played them in the juniors, I would beat them. But as I’m playing them and (thinking that now) it’s on the professional tour, it gets tougher. I don’t know why. When I figure it out, I will break through,” she said. “I think it’s very important to start that transition from the juniors to the WTA early, so you have time to adapt.”

If given the chance to speak properly with Jabeur or Sherif, El-Allami knows exactly what she would like to ask them.

“I’d ask Ons what made her keep believing in herself, because she won Roland Garros juniors but she didn’t rank quickly in the seniors, then 10 years later she did great things. So just to have that kind of strength and bravery is incredible,” says El-Allami.

“And Mayar, I mean, going to college and still fighting for your goals (on the professional tour) is incredible, so I’d like to ask her how she got that done?”

As the legendary Billie Jean King once said, “You have to see it to be it.” Luckily for El-Allami and El-Aouni, Jabeur and, more recently, Sherif are providing an excellent blueprint for young tennis players from North Africa and the Arab world to pursue their dreams.

-ENDS-


Sabalenka fights off Raducanu, Alcaraz marches on, Keys and Osaka crash at Wimbledon

Updated 05 July 2025
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Sabalenka fights off Raducanu, Alcaraz marches on, Keys and Osaka crash at Wimbledon

  • A record 36 seeds in the men’s and women’s singles failed to reach round three and the upsets continued Friday as women’s sixth seed Madison Keys and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka departed

LONDON: Women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka fought off inspired home favorite Emma Raducanu in a cauldron-like Center Court atmosphere to keep her Wimbledon quest on track but it was the end of the road for two other Grand Slam champions on Friday.

Sabalenka edged a ferocious contest under the roof after requiring eight set points in the opening set and then roaring back from a 4-1 deficit in a sizzling second.

“Wow! What an atmosphere, my ears are still hurting, it was super loud,” a relieved Sabalenka said on court after wrapping up the win on her third match point.

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, chasing a third successive Wimbledon title, was also put through the wringer by Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff before sealing a last-16 spot with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

A record 36 seeds in the men’s and women’s singles failed to reach round three and the upsets continued on Friday as women’s sixth seed Madison Keys, the Australian Open champion, and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka departed.

Japan’s Osaka looked every bit the Grand Slam great for a set before losing 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. American Keys racked up 31 unforced errors in a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Germany’s Laura Siegemund, at 37 the oldest woman left in the singles draw.

Sabalenka is the only top-10 seed left in the top half of the draw and, with only three remaining in the bottom, she might be starting to think this could be her year.

If she does win the trophy to add to her two Australian Opens and one US Open, she will look back on Friday night under the Center Court roof as perhaps the turning point.

Had she lost the opening set the partisan crowd might well have roared former US Open champion Raducanu to victory.

Even after clinching the first set with a deft volley, Sabalenka found herself in trouble as 40th-ranked Raducanu blazed ahead and had a point for a 5-1 lead. But she then switched on the after burners to overwhelm the flagging Briton.

“Emma played such incredible tennis and she pushed me really hard to get this win,” said the 27-year-old Belarusian. “I had to fight for every point to get this win.”

Home hopes

Raducanu’s loss ended hope of a British hat-trick on day five after Sonay Kartal and Cameron Norrie sailed through to the last 16 in impressive fashion.

Local favorite Kartal moved on with a remarkable display against French qualifier Diane Parry, claiming nine games in a row to come from 1-4 down to win 6-4, 6-2.

Norrie kept the home flag flying in the men’s singles by beating Italian Mattia Bellucci 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who overcame Brazilian wonder kid Joao Fonseca 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4).

Kartal had earlier reeled off nine games in a row after a slow start to beat French qualifier Diane Parry 6-4, 6-2 and set up a clash with Russian Pavlyuchenkova.

French Open winner Alcaraz extended his winning run to 21 matches by beating Struff but it was a Jekyll and Hyde performance as he again showed vulnerability.

“I was suffering in every service game... 0-30s and breakpoints down. It was stressful. Every time he could push me, he did. I was trying to survive,” Alcaraz said.

The 22-year-old will face Russian 14th seed next after he beat French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.

Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Amanda Anisimova ensured there would be some Fourth of July celebrations for Americans.

After being taken the distance in his first two matches, fifth seed Fritz had a slightly easier ride as he beat Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 to reach the last 16 where he will face unseeded Australian Jordan Thompson.

Despite spending more than nine hours on court, Fritz said he felt fresh ahead of his Sunday assignment with Thompson.

“This is going to sound crazy,” said Fritz, who has been suffering tendinitis in his knee and had to deal with a bruised arm after a fall. “My body is actually feeling better after each match. I feel like somehow it felt the worst after my first round but now it’s getting better.”

Anisimova, the 13th seed, also reached the fourth round with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over Hungarian Dalma Galfi.

Shelton, who was left seething after his second-round clash with Rinky Hijikata was suspended late on Thursday with him about to serve for the match, needed around one minute to finish the job on Friday, hitting three aces and an unreturned second serve to take his place in the last 32.

French showman Gael Monfils also had to resume his match but the 38-year-old could not prevent a 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6(5) 6-4 defeat by Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.

“I don’t really know. I wish I could win this match today but that’s sport. I’m going to rest a couple of days and go back on court and try to be ready for the US tour.”

It was the end of the road for Monfils’s wife Elina Svitolina too as the Ukrainian 14th seed fell 6-1 7-6(4) against 24th seed Elize Mertens.


Wimbledon pays tribute to Jota after Liverpool star’s death

Updated 04 July 2025
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Wimbledon pays tribute to Jota after Liverpool star’s death

  • Cabral was allowed to put the ribbon on his shirt sleeve for the second-round tie
  • “I know what he’s been through, what he conquered through his career and through his life,” he said

LONDON: Wimbledon paid tribute to Diogo Jota after the Liverpool star’s death as Portugal’s Francisco Cabral wore a black ribbon during his doubles match on Friday.

Cabral was allowed to put the ribbon on his shirt sleeve for the second-round tie after the All England Club relaxed its strict all-white dress code to allow tributes to the Portugal forward.

Jota, 28, and his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash in northern Spain while traveling to catch a ferry to England ahead of the start of pre-season training.

The accident came just days after Jota’s wedding to Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children.

Cabral said he was driving to Wimbledon when he heard the news and praised Jota as “an idol, such an icon, such a good person.”

“I know what he’s been through, what he conquered through his career and through his life. So he’s just very inspiring for me,” he said after losing with Austrian partner Lucas Miedler against Czech duo Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl.

“I just wish all the best for his family. I know they have good people around them so I hope they can get through it.”

British doubles player Neal Skupski, a passionate Liverpool fan, had also brought a black armband for his match on Thursday but opted not to wear it.

He suggested he may wear one later in the tournament, saying: “Maybe in the next couple of days.”


Sinner thrashes Vukic to roar into Wimbledon third round

Updated 03 July 2025
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Sinner thrashes Vukic to roar into Wimbledon third round

LONDON: World number one Jannik Sinner demolished Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-1 6-1 6-3 in a Center Court masterclass to move ominously into the third round of Wimbledon on Thursday.
The Italian was streets ahead of the 93rd-ranked Vukic who barely laid a glove on the top seed in the opening two sets before saving some face with a bit of third-set resistance.
Sinner, bidding to win the title for the first time, never loosened his grip on a one-sided contest although he did need six match points to finish off Vukic in a prolonged final game, banging down his 12th ace.
The 23-year-old has yet to drop serve and has conceded only 12 games in the six sets he has played so far and will now train his sights on unseeded Spaniard Pedro Martinez.


From Grand Slam to grand struggle, Krejcikova lives to fight on

Updated 03 July 2025
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From Grand Slam to grand struggle, Krejcikova lives to fight on

  • There was zero champion’s polish on show as the Czech creaked her way into the third round
  • The pair exchanged errors and breaks of serve throughout

LONDON: Barbora Krejcikova’s Wimbledon defense is still alive — but only just. The Czech squeezed past American Caroline Dolehide 6-4 3-6 6-2 in a second-round tussle that was all grind and no grandeur.
There was zero champion’s polish on show as the Czech creaked her way into the third round, surviving a match as scrappy as a Henman Hill picnic after a seagull raid.
“A huge relief,” she said afterwards to polite applause from the crowd. “Really up and down points, turning one way and the other ... I am so grateful I can keep going.”
Court Two spectators, many blissfully unaware that they were watching the reigning champion, might be forgiven — Krejcikova herself barely looked the part.
A season dogged by back and thigh niggles has left the 29-year-old short of sharpness, and her patchy 4-3 record for the season coming in was on full display in a match strewn with errors.
Spraying foreheads wide of their mark and dumping backhands into the net, nothing suggested a twice Grand Slam champion was holding court.
At times the contest resembled less a Grand Slam match and more a practice session between two very rusty players — Krejcikova produced 39 unforced errors, while Dolehide got fewer than half her first serves in all match.
The pair exchanged errors and breaks of serve throughout — Dolehide trying to power her way into the contest while Krejcikova sought to claw her way to victory on the back of slow, sliced forehands whispering back to a gentler age.
Scarcely can a champion have produced such a lukewarm performance on the Grand Slam stage but it would be fair to say the Czech blows hot and cold on the tennis court.
French Open champion in 2021, she has followed that title run with three first-round defeats and one second round showing at Roland Garros in the years since.
Her form can read like a nursery rhyme. When she’s good, she’s very, very good — Grand Slam good. But when the gears don’t quite catch, when timing slips or confidence wavers, she can unravel just as spectacularly.
As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 19th-century American poet and nursery rhyme writer, had it: when she is good, she is very, very good — but when she is bad, she is horrid.
Still, the 17th seed did just enough to scrape through to gentle applause and a sterner test ahead: 10th seed Emma Navarro, who won’t be quite so generous. (Reporting by Ossian Shine; Editing by Christian Radnedge and Ken Ferris)


Normality returns to Wimbledon as Alcaraz and Sabalenka ease through

Updated 02 July 2025
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Normality returns to Wimbledon as Alcaraz and Sabalenka ease through

  • A stream of big names including Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev crashed and burned in the oven-like temperatures of the first round
  • Earlier on Center Court, women’s top seed Sabalenka battled to a 7-6(4) 6-4 win against Czech Marie Bouzkova

LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka and the end of London’s tropical heatwave ensured a sense of normality returned to the lawns of Wimbledon on Wednesday after two sweat-soaked days of shocks.

A stream of big names including Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev crashed and burned in the oven-like temperatures of the first round.

So when Alcaraz walked on Center Court to continue his quest for a third successive title against British qualifier Oliver Tarvet, the thought surely lurked somewhere in his mind that he could be the fall-guy in the tournament’s greatest upset.

The 22-year-old second seed was not at his best but after saving three break points in a nervy opening service game against a college student ranked 733rd in the world, he asserted his authority to win 6-1 6-4 6-4.

Earlier on Center Court, women’s top seed Sabalenka battled to a 7-6(4) 6-4 win against Czech Marie Bouzkova.

“Honestly, it is sad to see so many upsets in the tournament, in both draws, women’s and men’s,” Sabalenka, who is bidding for her first Wimbledon title, said.

“Honestly, I’m just trying to focus on myself.”

Australian Open champion Madison Keys, the sixth seed, also made it safely into round three, beating Olga Danilovic 6-4 6-2 while unseeded four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka eased past Czech doubles specialist Katerina Siniakova 6-3 6-2.

BRITISH CHARGE
Lower temperatures did not mean an end to the surprises entirely though as American world number 12 Frances Tiafoe became the 14th of the 32 men’s seeds to depart, going down 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-5 to Cameron Norrie, one of seven British players in second-round singles action on day three.

Sonay Kartal led the home charge by beating Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-2 6-2 to book her place in the last 32 for the second year in succession.

There was disappointment, though, for Britain’s Katie Boulter who served 14 double faults as she went down 6-7(9) 6-2 6-1 to 101st-ranked Solana Sierra, the Argentine who lost in qualifying but has seized her lucky loser spot with both hands.

Alcaraz, bidding to do the French Open-Wimbledon double for the second successive year, needed five sets to get past Italian veteran Fabio Fognini in the first round and set up an intriguing clash with 21-year-old Tarvet.

Tarvet, who plays on the US collegiate circuit for the University of San Diego, said he believed he could beat anyone, even Alcaraz, after winning his Grand Slam debut match against fellow qualifier Leandro Riedi of Switzerland on Monday.

He was clearly not overawed at sharing a court with a five-times Grand Slam champion and had he taken any of the eight break points he earned in the first set it could have been closer.

Alcaraz proved a step too far though as he moved through the gears when required to keep an eager Tarvet under control.

Just as the Spaniard did in his first round when going to the aid of a female spectator suffering in the heat, Alcaraz again endeared himself to the Center Court crowd.

“First of all I have to give a big congratulations to Oliver, it’s his second match on the tour. I just loved his game to be honest, the level he played,” Alcaraz said.

Play on courts without roofs was delayed for two hours by light morning rain, but once the clouds rolled away the place to be for those without show-court tickets was Court 12 for Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca’s second-round match against American Jenson Brooksby.

The 18-year-old is widely-tipped as a future challenger to the domination of Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, and he showed exactly why during a 6-2 5-7 6-2 6-4 win that was celebrated by a large contingent of exuberant Brazilians.