Abedallah Shelbayh, the Jordanian who makes history with Nadal as a mirror

Every week ATP delivers revealing names. This is no exception, but until your country of origin is too. It’s about the young Abdullah Shelbayh.

Born in Jordan 19 years ago, the Amman native graduated from the Academy Rafael Nadal in 2021 before playing college tennis at the University of Florida. After her first year, Shelbayh turned professional. Out of the Top 1000 until July 2022, this 2023, definitely, she wants to be the one with the big leap.

This Tuesday, he lived up to his debut on the big circuit: he played on an equal footing with Soonwo Kwon, world No. 68, and even managed to get a set out of him in Doha before 6-3, 3-6 and 6 -4 defining. It was the first broken ATP for a Jordanian tennis player in all history.

Who today ranks 276th in the ATP ranking, the best of his career, in September he had already become the first Jordanian to win a Challenger-level match.

And last weekend, he made it all the way to the Manama 125 final, in what was only his third such tournament, no less.

The youngster was leaving Bahrain with a piece of history: Shelbayh became the first Jordanian tennis player and the younger arab to reach a Challenger final. Far from having an easy draw, in the quarterfinals, he defeated top seed Jason Kubler.

Due to his style of play, he is already an absolute promise. But also pride and reality in the sport of his country.