Egyptian entrant Hajar Abdelkader took to social media late last week when a video surfaced of her wild 37-minute match at the ITF W35 event.
Before you read this blog, watch the following clip from the ITF women’s event in Nairobi. The tournament, W35 (so named because the winner earns 35 ranking points), offers $25,000 in prize money.
If the video above evoked a reaction of disbelief and you just said to yourself, “I can’t believe a young woman has ever played tennis before”, that’s completely understandable. It is even expected. I won’t talk too much about the point, because I don’t want to be unkind. I doubt that Hajar Abdelkader, a 21-year-old from Egypt, is expected to get the attention. The reality is that these events are rarely on anyone’s radar as they are feeder programs for the Challenger/ITF and the main WTA Tour.
That being said, it would be remiss not to state the obvious. Mrs. Abdelkader doesn’t know how to make a service toss, hold his racket properly, or hit any groundstrokes. I’m not even sure you fully understand the rules of the game.
And listen. Everyone has to start somewhere. I’m not making fun of a newbie doing things that are just starting out…the problem is that the official WTA feed event is rarely “somewhere.” If you’re like me, the next question you ask yourself is how in the world did this happen?
The more likely answer is that Abdelkader entered as a wild card and neither the tournament organizers nor the ITF knew him. In the end, German opponent Lorena Schaedel won the match in 37 minutes, dropping only three points (two of which were double faults from Schaedel).
A complicated answer reveals a weakness in the wild-card process. Apparently there was no test and no minimum standard at which a player could be considered fit. Not only was the spot unavailable to another professional player, but it also made a mockery of the WTA feeder tour.
Although many events on the Challenger and ITF Tours are little known, they are important to the life of the WTA. This is where aspiring players build scores and levels. There are a few notable exceptions to the traditional path – Venus and Serena Williams didn’t have to go through the minors or the low-profile tour…but Venus and Serena had been gifted all their lives and by the time they were given the wild cards they were already famous.
Tennis officials in Egypt say they don’t even know who Abdelkader is. Walid Sami, Secretary General of Arab and Egyptian Tennis, said, “He has never played tennis before, and this is obvious from the level he has shown.” In short, it was a shame.
I am all for the development of tennis in Africa. The emergence of Ons Jabeur of Tunisia was a great one for the WTA and African tennis. But nobody wins when something like this happens. It doesn’t help the ITF tour, it doesn’t help Egyptian OR Kenyan tennis, and it doesn’t help the tournament.
So how does the ITF make sure this doesn’t happen again? Wild cards have long been awarded at the discretion of the tournament, but perhaps it’s time to ensure that certain qualifications are met for an athlete to even be eligible to apply for a wild card. And what about basic testing? The tournament in Nairobi threw his hands in the air and said, “HE SAID he has the knowledge to play.” That’s right. Well, apparently not.
We need to do better.
