When Mohamed Salah was making headlines with his brace for Liverpool against Southampton last week, another Egyptian was preparing to make history some 18,000 kilometres away, in Launceston, Australia.
After five gruelling rounds, Mohamed Safwat became the first Egyptian to win an ATP Challenger title in 24 years. In fact, Safwat (World No 130) is the only Egyptian player in the top 350 and to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw (Australian Open).
The next best is Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (No 365). In the women’s, Mayar Sherif is World No 189. “I didn’t know that I became the first Egyptian to win a title since 1996. Personally, it was a big step for me,” said Safwat.
“The problem is tennis isn’t popular in Egypt so it was off the media since 1996 and we hardly had funds coming. We have no Challengers there either. But I think it’s slowly catching up. When I was playing the final in Australia, I found some Egyptians supporting me. We just need time to build this culture.” With his Launceston title, it has now got the boost it needed.
Safwat will be the first Egyptian tennis player to compete at the Olympics. “It’s always an honour for any athlete to represent their country at the Olympics. It will inspire many kids, dream about it and work towards it because one from their country made it,” said the 29-year-old. “That’s why we have started receiving funds from the government. But it’s not enough as coaches, the players’ entourage and travelling — all of them are expensive. Although it’s not enough, we have to manage with that for now.
I hope with more achievements, businessmen and sponsors start to look into tennis.” With a title in the bag and the Olympics around, Safwat wants to push for bigger challenges ahead. Bengaluru Open is his first step towards that goal.
On Wednesday, he staved off a challenge from Australian Matthew Ebden to win 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-5 in over three hours to reach the third round. “My target is to get into the top 100 this year and I am pretty close to it. A couple of good results will put me closer to that goal. The next target is to prepare well for the Olympics, not just show up there. For that, I need to play in higher-level tournaments. With that, I want to share my knowledge with the kids so that they can get the help I didn’t get. That’s my goal now,” said Safwat.
RESULTS (INDIANS UNLESS SPECIFIED) Singles (Rd 2): 7-Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt [Alt] Sebastian Fanselow (GER) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; [4] James Duckworth (AUS) bt Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB) 6-4, 7-6(5); 17-Ramkumar Ramanathan bt [Q] Abhinav Shanmugam 6-1, 6-3; Julian Ocleppo (ITA) bt [10] Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) 6-1, 6-3; 14-Mohamed Safwat (EGY) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-5; Sidharth Rawat bt [LL] Rishi Reddy 6-2, 6-2; Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) bt [12] Nikola Milojevic (SRB) 6-4, 6-1; Frederico Ferreira Silva (POR) bt 15-Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Doubles (Rd-1): Saketh Myneni/Matt Reid (AUS) bt [WC] Nikshep Ballekere/Vasisht Cheruku 6-3, 6-1; 3-Andre Goransson (SWE)/Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Prajnesh/Sumit Nagal (IND) 6-3, 6-4; Lukas Rosol (CZE)/Yuichi Sugita (JPN) bt Andre Begemann (GER)/Daniel Masur (GER) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) bt Romain Arneodo (MON)/Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) 4-6, 6-0, 10-7; Ebden (AUS)/Leander Paes bt Blaz Rola (SLO)/Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) 7-6(2), 6-4.