Making history for her native country of Egypt, professional female tennis player, Mayar Sherif has become the first Egyptian woman to win at the French Open, renowned as one of the major Grand Slams within tennis. Moreover, this particular win has secured her position in the French Open’s main draw – otherwise known as the “Roland-Garros Series.”
Mayar Sherif played three qualifying matches to secure her position and went up against, and beat the likes of Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, a Colmbian tennis player, Italian player, Giulia Gatto-Monticone and American Caty McNally. Winning these matches made her the first female tennis player representing Egypt in a major tournament, to win at any Grand Slam competition.
Following her win, Mayar Sherif has been proclaimed the most “accomplished Egyptian woman’s tennis player in history.” In a statement to Roland Garros about her wins, she said, “I always imagined myself and visualized myself doing something good here in Paris. I’m just enjoying it, it’s such a dream to be here and to compete here. I’m going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.”
Sherif has also received support from fellow Egyptian sports star, Liverpool FC’s Mohamed Salah, who tweeted her to congratulate her on her victories. Mayar spoke about it with Roland Garros and said, “It’s very, very nice to get this kind of support from someone who is already very, very good, and someone who is very special from Egypt. Honestly it’s very nice to see that people know who I am, that people know the effort I’m doing, that people know that, ‘Oh, this person is special, this person is doing something different’. This is very, very important, it gives me a lot of mental support.”
The 2020 French Open was the first time Sherif had visited the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, since she was a junior player, and she is now ranked at the 172nd best female tennis player in the world, and recently competed against Karoline Pliskova, ranked as fourth in the world.
