#360view: Arab tennis players must stop making excuses and start finding solutions

The lack of Arab presence in the Wimbledon draw is undeniable. With Malek Jaziri exiting in the opening round in five sets to Australian James Duckworth, and the Tunisian later pulling out of his second round in doubles alongside Guillermo Garcia Lopez, there are no remaining Arabs in the men’s or women’s main draws at the All England Club.

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In the juniors, Tunisian Aziz Dougaz lost his boys’ singles opener on Saturday and Algerian Ines Ibbou is in action today in the girls’ singles draw. That is pretty much it.

Ons Jabeur, ranked 132 in the WTA, is sidelined with a wrist injury and wasn’t able to play qualifying at Wimbledon, while the Egyptians, who typically play the junior slams, have all either stopped playing or have gone north of 18 years old.

The interview I had with Lamine Ouahab, a former Wimbledon junior finalist, shed light on some of the troubles that face Arab tennis players and perhaps explained why a few of them can do well on the junior stage but fail as professionals.

Lack of tradition, no federation or government support and dealing with the logistical nightmare of travelling were all valid points made by the Algerian-turned-Moroccan Ouahab. But I have to disagree with one statement he made during our interview.

“This is the reality, it’s not excuses,” said Ouahab.

It’s actually both.

Yes, the Arab world is yet to understand what it takes to create a tennis champion, but Arabs are not the only ones who do not have support.

You see someone like Damir Dzumhur – a young player from the war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina who has beaten the odds to become a top-100 player and has faced Roger Federer in back-to-back grand slams.

Dzumhur was born a month after the Bosnian war began yet his father started up a tennis club in Sarajevo a few years after that and look where he is now.

That is just one example of countless others out there where players are making the most of their ability and desire despite having it rough.

Talent alone can only get you so far and the onus is on the individual to learn to fight adversity and that is often what separates the champions from the rest.

Granted, it is important to speak up and tell the Arab federations what needs to be done but the defeatist attitude that blames the lack of success on outside factors will never get anyone anywhere and, sadly, it is a common way of thinking amongst Arab players.

Ouahab probably would have fared better had he been Spanish or French, but that doesn’t mean he can’t make it as an Algerian or a Moroccan.

It’s time we ditch this culture of excuses and start finding solutions to the problems we face.

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