As the tennis season begins again, I wanted to share with you some of the amazing but little-noted accomplishments of Arab/Muslim tennis players, many of which occurred in 2007. Watch them all this week at the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam.
WOMEN
SANIA MIRZA (India, current ranking: 31st, highest ever: 27):
With wins over many top ten players including Martina Hingis and Svetlana Kuznetsova, this 5'7'' fireball of woman has shown the world flashes of brilliance that some say will land her in the top ten. Armed with a lethal forehand, 21 year-old Sania plays with a very high-risk style that generates stunning winners but also cringe-inducing unforced errors. She has a fiery spirit on the court full of fist pumps and shouts, the mark of a winner. In 2006, she won the newcomer of the year award, the first Indian or Muslim woman to reach the world's top 40. Infamously, there was a fatwa declared on her (for wearing indecent clothing) shortly after rising to fame with a victory at the Hyderabad tourney in 2005. Here she is at Hajj with her mother in Saudi Arabia.
TAMIRA PASZEK (Austria, current ranking: 41st, highest ever: 35):
It gives me special pride as a half-Austrian to present 16 year-old Tamira Paszek. Like much of the new generation in Europe, she's an ethnic cocktail: her father and coach , Ariff Mohammed, is of Indian descent, was born in Tanzania, and raised in Kenya, her mother, Francoise Paszek, was born in Chile and raised in Austria. This girl is only 5'5'' but has a stocky build and is totally fearless on the court, not to be dominated by more seasoned players a half-foot taller. In this her first year on the tour, she reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon and the US Open, taking out three top-20 players. She has a reputation for coming back from way
down in matches to win them in three epic sets. She won her first title in 2006, barely 15 years old. She just got to the semifinals of a tournament in New Zealand, where she gave Lindsay Davenport a tough contest. In the photo above, she's wearing a daring dress and popping right out of it!
down in matches to win them in three epic sets. She won her first title in 2006, barely 15 years old. She just got to the semifinals of a tournament in New Zealand, where she gave Lindsay Davenport a tough contest. In the photo above, she's wearing a daring dress and popping right out of it!ARAVANE REZAI (France, current ranking: 90th, highest ever: 40):
Of Iranian descent, this 20 year-old will probably become one of the most dangerous players on tour in the future. Her father Arsalan, a former auto mechanic, is reported to be a very hot-tempered coach and was once fined by the French tennis federation for verbal abuse 
of another player. Of course, one must take this information with a grain of salt, as any Muslim man who makes decisions for a Muslim woman (be they professional or otherwise) will come in for great criticism. She used to be the ball-girl for her brother, also a tennis player, but quickly eclipsed him in ability and fame! She has twice won the Muslim Women's Games, and this year exploded onto the scene at the Istanbul tournament, beating former number ones Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams in succession. She plans to become an astrophysicist when her tennis career comes to an end.YOUNES EL AYNOAUI, HICHAM ARAZI, AND KARIM ALAMI formed the Moroccan triumvirate that briefly lifted Arab tennis out of its usual futility, in the late 90's and early this century. Together, they won eight titles (Fadi, there ARE Arabs who win tennis titles, not just Federer in Arab drag). There seems to be no obvious inheritor of this legacy in the current crop of Muslim youngsters, which means that the focus of future hopes is now on the women.
MEN
YOUNES EL AYNAOUI (Morocco,current ranking: 180th, highest ever: 14)
This incredible showman was born way back in 71 and is still playing at the age of 36, amazingly, even though he's now a family man with a french wife and three sons with strange names: Ewen, Neil, and Noam ("Neil El Aynaoui, pleased to meet you"). A real giant for an Arab at 6'4'', he was somewhat of a late bloomer and won most of his titles in the twilight of his career. In 2002, when he won titles in Doha and Casablanca, he caused spontaneous celebrations in the streets and reinvigorated Arab pride in tennis. Overall he's won five titles, and reached 11 finals. He's probably best known for a nail-biter five-set loss to Andy Roddick in the Australian Open where he had previously defeated No. 1 Hewitt in four sets before losing to Roddick 21-19 in a five-hour marathon (longest fifth set in Grand Slam history). In a 2003 poll by leading Moroccan economic daily, "L'Economiste," he came in first as a role model for society. He has also been endowed with highest possible decoration from the King of Morocco.
HICHAM ARAZI (Morocco, current ranking: 794, highest ever: 22)
If you remember the legendary and colorful tennis commentator Bud Collins (who used to moderate Breakfast at Wimbledon), Arazi was always one of his favourite players. Collins lauded his incredible artistry and shot-making ability, pulling audacious and improbable shots out of nowhere with the deftest of touches. Even if it meant losing matches for taking such huge risks. He used to wear his straight hair very long and looked like something of a tennis pirate. He also electrified Casablanca by winning the title there in 97. Like El Aynaoui, he was a formidable Davis Cup player (the tournament where nations play one another), and once beat both Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski in the same playoff, that victory over the UK lifting Morocco into the World Group competition.
KARIM ALAMI (Morocco, current ranking: N/A, highest ever: 25)
I was in Egypt recently baking in the heat and watching rainy Wimbledon on the Al Jazeera sports channel, when I saw that this guy was doing the commentary. The guys at Al Jazeera headquarters kept referring to him as "Captain Karim". "Captain Karim, what do you think about this, about that, does player X have the Y to beat player Z considering that T in enough time to do V?" And then Captain Karim would answer like it was a perfectly reasonable question. He's definitely a looker and acts like he knows it: he never hesitates to take his shirt off and once bleached his hair blond. He became the first Moroccan to win an ATP title at Atlanta in 1996, and has won two titles overall.
JEWISH-MUSLIM DOUBLES TEAMS
It has happened quite a lot that Israeli players have teamed with Muslim players and achieved some successes while also garnering the obvious media attention. It's always of this variety: "Against all odds and against many of their compatriots' wishes, these human beings from opposite sides of the tracks have formed an unlikely partnership that is a lesson in morality for all of us..."
India's Sania Mirza partnered with Israel's Shahar Peer and even won tournaments together, while Israel's Andy Ram and Pakistan's Aisam El-Haq won a few rounds at Wimbledon one year and were the 'heartwarming' story of that championship. People reportedly cried watching them play.
And of course I'm forgetting to mention some notable players, past and present, like the amazing Marcos Baghdatis (I wasn't sure of his ancestry other than that he has a Lebanese dad, or a Greek dad born in Lebanon?)... please mention them if you want.
