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.”
Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat sets his sights on inspiring next generation of Arab players after French Open debut
Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat sets his sights on inspiring next generation of Arab players after French Open debut
- Safwat become the first Egyptian to play in a Grand Slam in 22 years.
- Having lost to world No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov, the 27-year-old admitted he was hungry for more top-level action.
A new UAE-based player arrives on cricket’s media field
- ‘Mr Cricket UAE,’ Anis Sajan, has launched a Dubai based cricket-focused digital media house under the aegis of the Mr. Cricket UAE Media Group.
A former Australian international cricketer, Michael Hussey, who retired in 2013, was known as “Mr Cricket.” It has always appeared to me to be a strange nickname. Even with my passion for the game and its quirks, it has been difficult to fathom its origins, to the point of deciding to delve no deeper. I was jolted out of this inertia by an introduction to “Mr. Cricket UAE,” Anis Sajan. As detailed in Arab News on Dec. 18, he has launched a Dubai-based cricket-focused digital media house, under the aegis of the Mr. Cricket UAE Media Group.
Sajan is a rags-to-riches person, from the chawls of Mumbai to the heights of the Danube Group, of which he is vice-chairman. He told me of his early days playing gully cricket in Mumbai, of how he developed into roles as a radio commentator on cricket prior to moving to Dubai in the early 1990s. He admits to no great proficiency in cricket but has managed to establish close relationships with leading players in the game.
This was very evident on Dec. 17 at the launch of the Mr. Cricket UAE platform in Dubai. His invited guests included three of England’s 2019 World Cup-winning team, Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. The last two are playing in the current DP World ILT20. There was even a videoed message from Michael Hussey, who was rather dismissive of his own Mr. Cricket nickname. Apparently, Hussey is on record as saying that he is not very fond of it. Quite when it was bestowed on him and by whom is unclear, but his enthusiasm for cricket was well known on the circuit. He was always the first to practice and the last to leave, hitting balls in every spare minute, giving himself every chance of doing well. Hence the nickname should be regarded as a mark of respect for his dedication and commitment.
The launch of the Mr. Cricket UAE platform represents an entry into a new market for the Danube Group, which is established in real estate, retail, building materials and hospitality. The company was started in 1993 as a small trading firm in Dubai by Anis’ elder brother Rizwan. Since then, Danube has expanded rapidly in the region and in 2018 was ranked amongst the top real-estate companies in Middle East by Forbes. The group has its headquarters in Dubai and operates in 10 countries, including the UK, where it opened an office in 2025.
When Anis moved to Dubai from India, he carried with him his passion for cricket. After the Danube team had great success in local indoor cricket leagues, Sajan told me that in 2012 he started and funded two Danube outdoor corporate cricket teams — the Lions and the Tigers — which played against themselves and other corporate teams on regular basis. The teams were launched by none other than the great Indian batter, Sunil Gavaskar. At the time, Gavaskar said: “The objective is to connect every cricket connoisseur and professional directly or indirectly with the game. The idea is to discover and nurture the young talents and also instill the right spirit to help the young players lead a healthy lifestyle.”
Thirty players were recruited to the teams through a professional selection system. They were employed solely to play cricket and were good enough to compete with visiting touring teams. In November 2015, for example, the national teams of Nepal and Papua and New Guinea were hosted for 50-over matches. In February 2016, Ireland played a 20-over match, followed in March by Derbyshire’s county cricket team, who won a 50-over match by 69 runs. In August 2017, the Sajan brothers and one other businessman joined forces to purchase a team to compete in the inaugural Ten Cricket League, played in Sharjah.
After this time, Anis stepped back from direct involvement in cricket to focus on work and family, but his passion for it was never lost. This was apparent when talking with members of his staff, who say that they have been pushing him for some time to be involved again. Over the years of writing this column, it has become apparent to me that the growth of cricket in the Gulf region would benefit from dedicated coverage. There are excellent media outlets which provide coverage of cricket around the world, including tournaments and major matches in the Gulf, but their emphasis is on the big events, teams and players.
ESPNcricinfo is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc, an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, and 20 percent by Hearst. It is rated the world’s leading multi-platform sports entertainment brand. Cricbuzz, owned since 2014 by Times Internet in India, is an omnipresent cricket media platform which provides real-time scores, news and in-depth analysis of cricket matches worldwide. Cricket World is an independent British site which has an impressive global coverage, given its limited resources compared with Cricinfo and Cricbuzz. Two long-established magazines, Wisden and The Cricketer, now have digital imprints. The latter is more than 100 years old and has undergone a series of fluctuating fortunes. It is a now looking to lever its brand heritage and loyal readership into the digital age, for which it will probably need investment. Associate nations cricket is represented by the Emerging Cricket website, whilst there are literally hundreds of blogs which address the many different aspects of the game. Cricket is a sport which indulges itself in statistics.
In response to this, there are a number of excellent databases. Cricket Archive claims to be the world’s leading authority on compiling cricket data. Its statisticians have created a source of fully searchable first-class, List A and T20 cricket records from around the world. Another source of statistics is HowSTAT, which began in Adelaide in the early 1990s when a group of friends with a passion for cricket needed a resource to help settle some of their arguments. Then, there is The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, which was founded in 1973. It is an international body represented in more than 20 countries and its membership includes most of the world’s leading cricket statisticians. All of these sites cover both men’s and women’s cricket, but there is a site dedicated to women’s cricket — Female Cricket.
Not unexpectedly, Anis Sajan is well aware of these platforms. In fact, he told me that he is in awe of several of them. However, he is also cognizant that cricket in the Gulf is a growth sector, for both men and women. At the heart of this lies the UAE, which has built a reputation for hosting international tournaments in world-class facilities and is fast strengthening its development structures for local talent. This is now to be supplemented by a UAE-based digital media house which will initially focus on cricket with specific reference to the region. The digital sports media industry is growing rapidly and the Danube Group is entering that market at a pivotal stage, leveraging its position in physical industries.
The new platform plans to embrace in-depth narratives, matchday coverage, viral short-form videos and community-first stories. It will be fascinating to watch how its mission “to become the world’s most relatable, trusted and culturally connected cricket media brand” will play out. In particular, it will be interesting to see how it fits alongside the established platforms and how it will establish a point of difference from them. Although Michael Hussey did not encourage the use of his Mr. Cricket nickname, the sobriquet is going live on the global stage through Anis Sajan and the Danube Group.
