PARIS: When Mohamed Safwat was a young aspiring tennis player living in Mansoura, Egypt, he watched stars such as Gustavo Kuerten and Roger Federer on TV competing at Roland Garros and recorded their matches.
He recalls Rafael Nadal’s first French Open success in 2005; from the color of the Spaniard’s sleeveless shirt to the clay-covered white capris he donned, while making history at the tender age of 19.
Like countless tennis players worldwide, Safwat drew inspiration from such legends and wanted to follow suit, even though he knew that the odds were heavily stacked against him in his pursuit of a professional career of his own. After all, how does a young player from the Nile Delta make it to a Grand Slam with little to no support from a nation with limited resources?
Fast-forward to Sunday, a 27-year-old Safwat stepped on Philippe Chatrier stadium — the main center court at Roland Garros — to face No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the first round, thanks to a lucky loser spot. In the process he became the first Egyptian in 22 years — and fourth in the country’s history — to contest a Grand Slam main draw.
“I used to watch all these legends on TV compete at Roland Garros when I was younger. I never ever imagined I’d be playing on Philippe Chatrier against Grigor or anyone like that. It never crossed my mind. But when I came here, I had a feeling that somehow I would play, and it happened,” Safwat told Arab News.
Safwat had lost in the third and final round of Roland Garros qualifying last week, and when the tournament announced the order of players that could get lucky loser spots, he was seventh in line.
When you find out you are seventh, you usually pack your bags and leave, but Safwat had a hunch that he could make it and stuck around. And indeed, seven players pulled out of the tournament and Safwat secured a main-draw slot. He found out at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday that he would play Dimitrov at 11:00 on Philippe Chatrier.
He had 30 minutes to prepare for history.
Despite a gallant fight in the last set, Safwat fell 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 to Dimitrov, but not before he left his mark on the French crowd, who were chanting his name and gave him a standing ovation as he walked off court.
His Paris debut did not go as well as he would have hoped, but Safwat believes it will have a positive impact back home.
“For sure I think this is going to be a positive thing, not for me, but for tennis, whether in Egypt or the Arab world. If we look at Malek Jaziri (of Tunisia), he made us all believe that someone like us can reach a semifinal of an ATP event. Malek beat Grigor (in Dubai in February). He opened the road for us, and made us believe that our dreams can come true and it’s not just words,” Safwat said of the 34-year-old Jaziri, who has been the top-ranked Arab for the past several years.
“So this is something for the young tennis players, the upcoming generation in our region. Yes, we don’t necessarily follow a direct path, because we lack the knowledge of how to make it in our part of the world, but with our individual effort, and without many people behind us and supporting us, we can still achieve great things.”
Safwat, ranked 182 in the world, believes the key to success is to leave behind the culture of excuses that often hinders athletes in the Arab region and admits he himself was guilty of such behavior in the past.
“We shouldn’t act like victims because of our circumstances and feel that the world is against us,” he explained.
“I lived that role for a while, and when I snapped out of it, I realized that we aren’t the only players in the world that don’t have support.
“There are so many players who have no support, and they are better than us and ranked better than us. They have no support, but they keep working. They have no money, no sponsorships, no wildcards, nothing.”
Safwat considers his Slam debut as an important “milestone” but he’s already looking ahead.
“I had chances in the match, maybe now I wasn’t able to capitalize on these chances but I can work on myself,” he said. “I believe this won’t be the last time for me to play in the main draw here, or on center court anywhere else.”