After bizarre videos of an overwhelmed tennis player went viral on the Internet, the tournament organizer has admitted a mistake in the scheduling. At the small W35 tournament in Nairobi, the Egyptian Hajar Abdelkader, who had a wild card, lost in the first round against the German player Lorena Skull 0:6, 0:6.
Videos of the match circulated, raising doubts as to whether Abdelkader had ever played tennis before. “With hindsight, Tennis Kenya admits that this wildcard should not have been awarded. The federation has taken note of this incident and will ensure that such an extremely rare case never occurs again,” said a statement from the Kenyan federation.
The aim was to promote “the development of tennis in Africa”.
The loser’s wobbly ball throw when serving looked amateur, and she made a total of 20 double faults. Abdelkader only scored three points – due to two double faults and an unforced error from her opponent, who is ranked 1026th in the world. Some users wondered how the completely one-sided game could last 37 minutes. Others wondered if the video was even real.
“Ms Abdelkader stated that she had sufficient competitive experience and the wildcard was issued to her based on this information,” Tennis Kenya said. However, the Egyptian Tennis Association confirmed to the BBC that Abdelkader was never registered as an Egyptian player and was not entered into the tournament on behalf of Egypt. They played “neither directly nor indirectly any role in the nomination, approval or issuance of this wildcard,” said the technical director of the Egyptian Tennis Association, Dia Nabil Loutfy.
Another player was initially scheduled for the wildcard, but she canceled her start in the main field at short notice. “Ms Abdelkader was the only other player who had requested a wildcard at the time,” Tennis Kenya stated. The promise also wanted to promote “the development of tennis in Africa”.
