Last month tennis fans around the world watched Serena Williams play what could well be her last major tournament, as she announced her plan to “evolve away” from the sport.
The 41-year-old Williams will walk away with 23 singles Grand Slams, 73 singles titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, and four Olympic gold medals.
Among the appreciative global audience watching Williams give her farewell speech at the US Open was 17-year-old Yara Faleh Alhogbani, Saudi Arabia’s first female professional tennis player.
“Serena is a role model for many girls, not just tennis players,” she said. “Her influence has transcended the sport and I look up to her in many ways. Serena not only opened doors for other girls, but she also made a commitment to stay true to herself and her own goals along the way.
“That’s something I’m hoping to emulate. I don’t have records that I want to break — I just want to be better than I was the day before whether that is on or off the court.”
Alhogbani, born in Ohio in the US, now resides in Riyadh and turned professional at age 14 after picking up her first racket when she was just four years old.
“I grew up in a very big family, with six brothers and an older sister. We were a very active family that loved biking, swimming, tennis and soccer,” she said.
Alhogbani decided to follow in the footsteps of her brother Ammar and Saud, who both started playing tennis competitively.
Turning professional, however, has been tough for a teenager still in school. Alhogbani must keep up with her studies while training four to six hours a day and traveling frequently for tournaments.
“I attend an online school where the learning schedule is flexible, and I try to squeeze in schoolwork any chance I get. Whether it’s at the airport on my way to tournaments, or in the lobby of a tennis center in between practices and matches,” she said.
Alhogbani does most of her training at Core Social Wellness club in Riyadh but is planning to move to Spain and train at Rafa Nadal Academy later this year.
“There isn’t a lot of female competition here for me, so I’m practicing with the men’s national team to keep developing and get stronger. I’m soon going to be in Spain for the sole purpose of growing as a player and having higher competition.
“I am not really playing any local tournaments since there isn’t a high level of competition for me,” she said. “They recently (started) female tournaments, so the sport is fairly new to everyone, which means they’re mostly amateurs.”
Due to the lack of female competitors in the region, Alhogbani travels to play in ITF, or International Tennis Federation, tournaments to accumulate ranking points which she hopes will lead to her ultimate goal of becoming a Women’s Tennis Association player.
“My immediate goal is to earn my first WTA points and see where I go from there,” she said. “I graduate from high school this year, so I’ll be able to travel and compete on tour more competitively once I’ve finished school.”
Although tennis is a relatively new sport in the Kingdom for female athletes and being able to play in local tournaments has been a challenge for Alhogbani, this month she will be competing in the inaugural Saudi Games 2022.
The games will feature over 6,000 athletes from more than 200 national clubs, taking part in 45 individual and team competitions, including five para-sports contests.
“I am most proud of my accomplishments in relation to Saudi Arabia,” Alhogbani said. “I want to help open as many doors as I can for girls like me. My goal is to help as many as I can when it comes to allowing them better access to the sport.”
“I don’t think that I am looking to make a mark of my own,” she added. “I think that if it comes naturally then that’s great, but I just love the sport and want to help spread the love of the sport throughout my home country. If I can make big strides on the international stage, then that would be a dream come true.”
