Mayar Sherif, Egyptian WTA 125 star in Chile: “This tour is important, but I would like to see more tournaments in South America”

Mayar Sherif is the big star of the LP Open by IND, the most important women’s tennis tournament in the country. She occupies this place thanks to being the player with the best ranking in the event (49th) and for having landed in Santiago as the reigning champion of the tournament. The Egyptian even appears in almost all of the competition’s advertisements. So much so that when he arrived, he stopped to take a photo with an advertising board on which his silhouette appeared.

His participation, however, was not what he expected. She managed to overcome the round of 16 by beating the Argentine Julia Riera 6-2 and 6-4, but in the round of 16 she succumbed to the Slovenian Polona Hercog by partials of 6-7, 6-4 and 1 -6. His feeling of favoritism and his 2023 are some of the topics he talks about with Sporty .

It is also time to reflect on the war in Gaza, where he has a clear view of the conflict. “There is no way for anyone who knows history, who knows what has happened since the 20th century, to say that Palestine is the bad guy here. », says the tennis player who, since the start of the attacks, has been actively involved on social networks on the subject.

A frank conversation with a player immersed in the elite, the first born in Egypt to achieve this. In fact, this transformed her, with the Tunisian Ons Jabeur (6th), into references for the African continent. Achieving greater development of tennis in this region is his great desire.

Do you think you were the big favorite of the WTA from Chile?

The truth is that when I participate in a tournament, I never think about the points and the ranking I have. I have always attended tournaments, big or small, with a clear objective, practice match by match, to see what we had to do. It worked well for me and that’s why we think.

The tournament takes place right at the end of the year, is it a very big challenge for the body?

Physically, it’s not easy at all. It’s tough for everyone, after playing so many weeks a year, but mentally, my coach and I have been waiting all year to come here. There are tournaments that you really enjoy on the field and there are others that you also enjoy off the field, this is one of them. Year after year I gained more experience on how to deal with everything physically and mentally. There are two weeks left, the last push.

I imagine the conflict in Gaza also meant a lot to you mentally…

Military pressure and the suffering of the people have been very present in my thoughts over the past month. Everything that’s happening is exhausting, knowing that people only care about money and power. It’s very sad to see people dying and the world just watching. Even some country leaders support them only for their own benefit, so it is very sad and hopeless. I hope that somehow this will end, that the fire will stop.

Palestine is often seen as the villain of the film…

Obviously we often have a different opinion because we have lived and known the conflict from the beginning and there is no way for someone who knows the history, who knows what has happened since the 20th century , to say that Palestine is the bad guy here. There are no options. If someone does the work and looks in the history books, they will be able to see it.

I changed the subject, I mentioned recently that I was waiting to come here. What does South America have that you can’t find elsewhere?

First of all, I really like the South American audience in general. The people here make a lot of money from tennis, they give you a lot of energy on the court. And secondly, it is earth (clay). I really love playing on dirt and I really love playing here. Normally the weather is nice, it’s summer. This gives you the feeling that these are better conditions to play tennis.

South America is growing in the WTA with this type of tournament, is it necessary to expand further to new countries?

Clear. It is very important that people have the same opportunities as in other places, both in South America and in Africa. I have always said that everyone should have the same opportunity to play, so that people from a country or continent can compete at a high level. It’s true that this tour is very important, but I would like to see more WTA 250 tournaments, more than 500 in South America, combine them with the Indian Wells and Miami tour like they did before. We need to find a way to organize more tournaments in other parts of the world.

Was your departure from Egypt to Spain due to lack of competition?

Exactly. In Egypt, in Africa in general, when I played, there weren’t many tournaments. Now, for example, there are more than 15,000 ITFs, sometimes 25,000, but an Egyptian has never seen a WTA level of 125 or 250. I’m not telling you to participate in these tournaments, they don’t have them. not even seen. How come these players get the opportunity to compete if they’ve never seen it, never played it? For them, for us in Africa, it’s like a dream.

You and Ons Jabeur are icons of African tennis, has anything changed since you reached this level?

I think now people can believe that they can reach the top 50 in the rankings or play in a Grand Slam final. But it will be for the next generation, not today’s. This will affect tomorrow’s generation, those who are young today. When they see us at high performance, they will say “why not me?” »

Are you involved in the development of tennis in Egypt?

Yes of course. We always talk with my sponsors and the Federation to try to help the little ones and see how I can pass on my experience to the people who compete in Egypt. We’re still looking at the possibility of hosting camps, taking people to a major tournament, broadcasting women’s tennis matches on national television. We’re working on all these things.

Is a solution for equality between women’s and men’s tennis the merger of the ATP and the WTA?

Well, it’s a bit political and I’m more worried about playing and winning the games. I think the WTA needs to improve things, but I don’t know if the step of joining the ATP will be better for us. Obviously the ATP is doing things very well and winning a lot more than us, but I also see that the WTA is trying to do its best.