Prank or real? These scenes have been going viral since Wednesday: A tennis player tries her hardest at serving and changing games on the tennis court. Curiously, this is a wildcard player at an ITF tournament in Nairobi. What’s behind it?
A performance like this has rarely been seen at this level. Egypt’s Hajar Abdelkader competed in the first round of the ITF tournament in Nairobi on Wednesday. After all, it is the third highest tournament class after the WTA and WTA Challenger Series. She received the place thanks to an invitation from the organizers.
Their level of play does not entitle them to do this. Her German opponent Lorena Skull (world ranking 1026) obviously has to show her again and again where she should serve from. There are a total of 20 double faults. In general she obviously has problems with the basics and returning balls. The Egyptian, who looks like an absolute rookie, quickly loses out with 0:6 and 0:6.
The recordings quickly spread around the world and the tennis scene asked itself in confusion: What was going on?
The professional tournament is organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
The Kenyan association has now admitted that it made a mistake. “This wildcard should not have been awarded,” the Kenyan Tennis Association said on Thursday.
Confusion about wildcard player
“Ms. Abdelkader has received an invitation after making a proper request,” the federation stressed in a statement, explaining that a place in the final tournament had become available “at the last minute” after the player for whom this invitation was originally intended canceled.
According to the association, Abdelkader was the only other player who requested an invitation. This was granted to her “on the basis of the information provided by the Egyptian” and “with the aim of ensuring a complete and balanced final tournament while promoting the development of tennis in Africa”.
“In retrospect,” the association admits, “that this wildcard should not have been awarded.” Tennis Kenya will “ensure that such an extremely rare situation never occurs again,” it said.
In response to a request from the AFP news agency, the International Tennis Federation emphasized that the decision to issue invitations for the tournament in Nairobi was the responsibility of Tennis Kenya.
In a statement published on Facebook, the Egyptian Tennis Association also denied any involvement in the awarding of this wildcard to Hajar Abdelkader.
According to the player’s profile on the ITF website, the 21-year-old played the first professional match of her career in Nairobi.