Unranked Egyptian player Hajar Abdelkader was handed a wildcard for the W35 Nairobi tournament in Kenya but delivered a dismal performance
Hajar Abdelkader recorded an 8.3% first‑serve percentage.
A wildcard entry at the W35 Nairobi tournament has set social media alight after managing to win just three points in her opening round clash with Lorena Schaedel.
The Egyptian player, Hajar Abdelkader, endured a torrid 37 minutes on court, racking up an eye-watering 20 double faults out of a total of 22 in the match.
The unranked 21 year old’s meagre points tally came courtesy of two double faults from her German rival in the opening set’s fourth game, with her solitary earned point arriving when Schaedel sent a backhand return long in the second set’s second game.
Abdelkader’s serving statistics made for grim reading, with a first serve success rate of merely 8.3%, climbing only slightly to 9.1% on second serves.
She double-faulted on all bar four of her service attempts, including the opening nine and closing seven consecutively.
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By stark contrast, Schaedel posted a 92.6% first serve percentage and fired down 13 aces past her struggling opponent.
Despite reportedly taking up tennis aged 14, Abdelkader appears to have no previous professional match history on record.
An eight-second video snippet from the encounter, posted on X, capturing Abdelkader’s serving woes has already clocked up more than a million views.
Randy Walker, who directs the Vero Beach Futures tournament, didn’t mince his words in response: “This doesn’t even need to be investigated.
“It’s just a straight up disrespect to the integrity of the sport and the promoter needs to be replaced immediately and kicked out of the sport.
“This was a MAIN DRAW wild card entry into a W35 and the “player” is from Egypt.”
In a follow-up post, Walker stated: “I’m sure that @itia_tennis will be all over this…”
He tagged the International Tennis Integrity Agency in his message.
The clay-court event at Parklands Sports Club boasts a prize money pool of $30,000 (£22,240).
chaedel is set to face seventh-seed Ren Yufei in the next round.