Revealed: The truth about how an Egyptian tennis player’s professional debut turned into the ‘worst in sports history’ – as hunt for mystery woman continues
An Egyptian tennis player whose disastrous professional debut was branded the worst in the sport’s history is now suspected of cheating her way into the tournament.
Hajar Abdelkader, 21, disappeared after footage of her extraordinary 6-0, 6-0 defeat by Lorena Schaedel, 24, at an International Tennis Federation (ITF) event in Nairobi went viral last week.
The 37-minute match, played on January 6, prompted widespread ridicule after Ms Abdelkader appeared unable to perform even basic tennis techniques.
At one point, she threw the ball behind herself during the ball toss while her German opponent, ranked 1139 in the world, waited at the opposite end of the court.
Ms Schaedel was even forced to tell Ms Abdelkader where to stand on the baseline in order to serve.
The Egyptian wild card entrant served 20 double faults during the match and landed just eight per cent of her serves.
Where as Ms Schaedel lost only three points in the entire contest when she committed two double faults and one unforced error.
Following the backlash, Tennis Kenya admitted Ms Abdelkader should never have been allowed to compete and revealed she was only given a place after a Kenyan professional withdrew at the last minute.
One of the tournament’s organisers told The Telegraph that Ms Abdelkader was suspected of ‘lying’ about her experience, with officials now trying to establish how she knew what information to submit in order to secure entry.
Hajar Abdelkader cut an unlikely figure as she made her professional debut at an ITF event in Nairobi on Wednesday
Fans online suggested the 21-year-old’s performance could be among the worst ever
The source said: ‘She gave false information about her ranking and her stats. We can’t find her and don’t know where she’s gone to.’
A profile on the ITF website claims Ms Abdelkader, a right-handed Egyptian national, has been playing since the age of 14. However, footage from the match shows her struggling at a recreational level.
The ITF World Tennis Tour is the lowest of the three tiers of competitive tours for professional players, behind the WTA and ATP tours at the top of the table, and the Challengers Tours.
But a number of WTA players will continue to compete in ITF events should they be returning from injury, keen to bolster their ranking, or interested in a shot at the top prize, with seven players inside the top 500 in the world standings competing in Nairobi.
W35 events – who offer the second-lowest amount of prize money – still come with sizeable financial reward, with £22,000 ($25,000) available to the tournament winner as well as ranking points.
Event organisers said Ms Abdelkader had repeatedly emailed officials from December 26 begging for the opportunity to play.
Each request was rejected until the last minute withdrawal opened up a slot and she was handed a wild card.
Nancy Nduku, the secretary general of Tennis Kenya, later acknowledged the error, saying: ‘Tennis Kenya acknowledges that this wild card should not have been granted.
‘The federation has taken note of this experience and will ensure that such an extremely rare occurrence never happens again.’
In a separate statement, Tennis Kenya said Ms Abdelkader had been given the wild card because she ‘indicated that she had an appropriate level of competitive playing experience’.
The Egyptian Tennis Federation confirmed Ms Abdelkader is an Egyptian national who lives in Kenya and has not competed in her home country.
