Majdi Al-Saeedi - Tunisia
Tennis has not been of great importance on the sports scene in Tunisia, but the remarkable results of Malek Jaziri in the men's category and Anas Jaber in the women's category in recent years, this game has given a place under the sun of sporting events and placed it among the most attractive sports for the masses.
Tunisian tennis player, Anas Jaber, managed to steal the attention of yellow football fans when she blew up a surprise of the big caliber today in the Australian Open, by defeating Danish Caroline Wozniacki, who ranked 36 in the ranks of professional tennis players.
In a thrilling confrontation for the third round, Anas (25 years) won over her formerly ranked first Danish opponent, holding the 2018 title title, with two groups for one (7-5, 3-6, 7-5), to set a date with the final price and become the first Arab and African player to arrive. The threshold for this role is in the Australian Grand Prix, the first Grand Slam tournament.
Historical achievement
The player made her way steadily on the Melbourne stadiums. Before Wozniacki’s removal, Anas defeated Britain’s Joanna Conta in the first round with two sets without response, then French Caroline Garcia in the second round with two sets for one.
She will be ranked 78 in the international rankings at dawn next Sunday in front of the opportunity to continue writing history when she faces Chinese Qiang Wang, ranked 29 in the world, which removed American Serena Williams, one of the best players in the history of tennis.
After the match, Anas said, "Beating Wozniacki is a defining moment in my career ... I did not succeed in my previous posts in overcoming the first round because I did not have experience in such major tournaments ... Beating Wozniacki is one of the players that I consider to inspire me in the world of yellow ball , A great achievement".
"I will work to continue the march steadily, despite the fact that the upcoming confrontation will not be easy for Chinese Wang," she added.
Anas Jaber's brilliance sparked a wide interaction on the media, as most of its Facebook pages were topped, while bloggers praised what they considered an "unprecedented Arab achievement."
The former president of the Tunisian Tennis Federation, Mahrez Bossian, considered that the victory was not a surprise to him, as he was aware that Anas' perseverance would pay off someday.
"It was imperative that the day came when we saw Anas make their way in one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world ... I was president of the game federation when I won the 2011 Roland Garros Young Women's Championship, and I bet on her to compete for the first rounds in Australia," said Bossian, who currently heads the Tunisian Olympic Committee. Then in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. "
An ambitious tournament
Anas, who was born on August 28, 1994 in the city of Qasr Hilal (center), was crowned the Tunis International Course on three occasions (2013, 2014 and 2016), and she won the Casablanca (Morocco) and Antalya (Turkey) courses in 2010, and Roland Garros open to the category of young women in 2011 .
In 2017, she entered the 100th professional women's race after reaching the third round of the Roland Garros Open.
In October 2018, Anas Jaber reached the final of the Moscow international, but she was injured and lost the title, which was close to her, to the benefit of her Russian competitor Daria Kasatkina, but she achieved the best rating in her career by reaching the 61st position.
The Tunisian player had started her journey with the world of yellow ball since she was a young woman not more than four years old, as her mother - an amateur tennis player in the late nineties of the last century - took her to the stadium to attend training until her fondness for the game increased.
Samira Hashfy, mother of Anas, said in her interview with Al-Jazeera Net, "She showed a great passion for playing with the ball and touching the racket .. My coach at the Tennis Club in Monastir (center) granted her the task of collecting balls, and at the age of six she started playing the game within the tennis club in Hammam Sousse under the supervision of coach Nabil Malika who bet on her success. "
"Anas succeeded in proving the height of her heels, while she did not exceed ten, and won many national championships, and then she achieved with the Tunisian national team a remarkable march that crowned her victory in the 2011 French Open for the Young Women category."
The coronation was a decisive turning point in the player's career that entered the profession in 2012, and she fought her first championships with professionals at the Qatar International Course in February of the same year.
Anas's mother considers that her daughter's success was through individual efforts and with the help of her family and her husband, the physical trainer, at a time when she is in dire need of material support from the Ministry of Sports, she said.
It is noteworthy that last December, Jaber crowned the Best Arab Sports Prize for the year 2019, an award granted by the "London Arab" Foundation.