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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 27 October 1999 Issue No. 452 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 27 October 1999 Issue No. 452
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Challenge on the court
By Nashwa Abdel-Tawab
The Cairo Challenger, Egypt's oldest and arguably most prestigious tennis tournament, got under way this week with nine of the world's top 100 players in the main draw.
Morocco's Karim El-Alami, while playing a back-hand during Egypt's International Championship and taking a memorable photo with one of Egypt's ushers in Pharaonic costume
On the Gezira Club's traditional centre court, players competed for two days in the preliminary rounds. Four qualified for the main draw among 24 seeded foreign players, along with four out of 15 Egyptians who, by virtue of Egypt hosting the event, were allowed to enter as wild cards.
Egypt's top player Amr Ghoneim, ranked 573 in the world, was among the Egyptian group. So too was Karim Ma'moun, ranked 740 and Hesham Hemeida, Georgia University's No 1 and the third-ranked player at the US university level.
Prize money for the eight-day tournament, due to end 25 October, now stands at $125,000. The winner will pocket $18,000 and will add 100 points to his world standings. The competition, now celebrating its 77th year, will be supervised by the ATP, which oversees all professional tennis competitions.
Title holder Alberto Portas, ranked No 72, is on hand as is Alberto Berassategui, now ranked No 91, who won the tournament in 1997 when he was seeded 23. At the time Berassategui beat Morocco's Karim Alami, who is participating for the third time. Alami's ranking improved from 42 to 39 following last week's victory in the Barcelona Open.
All eyes will be on Alami, the top seed. The Moroccan started the season by reaching the third round of the Australian Open, then reached the semi-finals in both the Casablanca and Estorial Opens. As a result, his world ranking in April jumped from 54 to 46. He also beat world ranked No 8 Alex Corrteja in the third round of the Roma Championship.
Alami's career has seen more ups than downs. Having begun his professional career in 1990 at the age of 17, Alami reached the final of the US Open for juniors and the semi-finals of the French junior Open. He also won the doubles junior crown at Wimbledon and the US Open for juniors. As a junior, he reached No 2 in the world in singles and No 1 in doubles. In 1994 he beat the best, Pete Sampras, in the Doha Open although he was unseeded and ranked 205. In 1995, Alami won in Tashkent, becoming the first Moroccan player to win an ATP tournament.
Founded in 1907, the Cairo Challenger, formerly known as the International Tennis Championship, is as venerable as they come. Only the Grand Slams -- Wimbledon (1877), the US Open (1881), the French Open (1891) and the Australian Open (1905) -- are older.
Zirlizy the Greek won the tournament an unprecedented five years running. Adli El-Shafi, father of tennis great Ismail El-Shafi and former president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation, became the first Egyptian to win the championship, lifting the cup in 1946. The tournament has been a good omen for some. Thomas Muster entered in 1990. Ranked 16 at the time, he later amassed enough points to reach No 1 in the world.
