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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Davis Cup disaster
By Yasmine El-RashidiIt began last Friday when Slovenia's Davis Cup team arrived in Cairo for their European Group showdown with Egypt. Slovenia is strong -- its four players all rank in the top-500 in the world -- but the Egyptian Tennis Federation (ETF) didn't quite expect the results to be as distressing as they were.
Egypt got off to a good start with Karim Ma'moun taking a close first match from Mario Neshalik 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4. It was a win which reflected a psyche of steel and a solid determination to lead the nation to a victory on home turf. It was short-lived, however. The doubles duo of Ma'moun and Amr Ghoneim disappointed the crowd, dismally. It wasn't that they didn't play well or try hard enough. They simply couldn't seal off points -- or games. The result: 1-6, 3-6, 1-6.
The third match, singles, was much the same; Ghoneim time and again giving away points to Slovenia and games on a seemingly silver platter. Down 2-1, with two more singles matches to go, Egypt's players were informed by their coach, Hisham Nasr, that they needed to muster their stamina, skill and mental strength and show the Slovenians what they were really about.
He had lost once already in the three-day event but Nasr took a chance, sending the most experienced of his four players, Ghoneim, onto court again. It was the deciding match of this Davis Cup tie. If Egypt were to lose, it would lose its chance of progressing in the first Davis Cup tournament of the millennium.
The crowd didn't care about the sun or heat on this particular Easter day; they just sat there, sweating and cheering and waving their arms in the air. Their only concern was the court and Ghoneim, who was granted their unwavering support. But as the match wore on, it was Ghoneim's performance which wavered and his mindset crumbled. Still, they cheered and chanted and told him it was okay. It didn't do much good. Ghoneim went from a confident and composed player to one who questioned almost every call, completely losing his cool when several of the Egyptian umpire's calls were revoked by the chief Italian umpire. Slamming his racket down in the final set, Ghoneim seemed to lose all focus. Missing easy balls and making unforced error after error, it appeared to the crowd, at least, that the match was decided. It was. Egypt lost 7-6, 0-6, 7-5, 2-6.
"It is extremely disappointing," May Elwani, ETF's executive manager, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Amr's loss had nothing to do with the officials or line calls. They [Slovenia] are stronger technically, they are more consistent and they have a better spirit. Amr had too many chances and he just lost them. I can't quite explain, or understand, what happened."
What happened, it seems, is that the federation poured in time and money and effort into the team and they, simply, just lost it.
"We've never invested so much in a team like we did this year," Elwani said. "They did perform much better than last year and the year before but they could have done so much better. We could have won on Friday and we could have won today."
That they failed on both days makes their fate clear; they are to play the loser of Poland and Estonia who will meet in the coming weeks. It is a meeting which -- whether or not on home court -- Egypt must win if it is to remain in the Euro-African Zone Group II. A loss would drop Egypt down to Euro-African Zone Group §§§§°III from which it struggled, and succeeded, to climb out of a couple of years ago. Both Elwani and Nasr know the team must now focus on their mindset and work on not crumbling when things go wrong or when they perceive that the umpires are being unfair.
Next time, too, maybe Nasr should gamble and make use of other players. After all, he had Gihad El-Dib and Marwan Zewar, star juniors in past African and Arab championships whose roles were confined to bench warmers and cheerleaders over the weekend. They did the country proud in the past. Why not again?
