On Saturday, Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat was left thinking what to do next after he fell in the final round of qualifying at the French Open. 24 hours later and he has unexpectedly created history.
The world No.182 found out at 10am this morning that he would be playing ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov in the first round. Safwat, who had previously never played in the main draw of a grand slam, got granted the entry as a lucky loser. Viktor Troicki, Dimitrov’s original opponent, retired injured prior to the start of the match.
“I found out 20 minutes before the match, I was hanging around the locker room and Viktor goes, good luck and I was like ‘what’s happening?’ but that’s just how it goes you have to adapt.” Dimitrov said about the change in opponents.
Safwat was unable to get his first win in a major. Going out 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(1), to the Bulgarian on court Philippe-Chatrier. Nevertheless, it was a milestone for Egyptian tennis. Safwat is the first player from his country to play in a grand slam main draw since Tamer El-Sawy at the 1996 French Open.
“In Egypt we don’t really have the knowledge of the game but this is a milestone in my career,” said Safwat, who is based in Austria.
The 27-year-old is yet to break into the world’s top 150 on the tour. Peaking at a high of 174th earlier this month. On the ATP World Tour, he has only managed to win two out of eight matches since 2011. Safwat instead plays most of his matches on the Futures and Challenger tours. In April he nearly got the biggest title in his career, but lost in the final of the Anning Challenger in China.
Speaking about his clash against Dimitrov, Safwat said he always dreamt of playing on one of the biggest courts in tennis. So far in his career, he has won $319,994 in prize money (prior to Roland Garros). To put that into perspective, Roger Federer has earned $4,336,500 so far this season.
“I always dreamed to play on centre court with such a crowd. And I had thoughts I might get in here and play Nadal in the first round,” he said.
“I never ever thought I will go out in the final round and then have a chance to compete in a tournament, in the main draw, in a Grand Slam against a good player in the centre court in Philippe Chatrier.
“It’s something I always saw on TV, but I never had the experience to see. So it was really, really enjoyable for me.”
Growing up, it was previous French Open champions that inspired the Egyptian that he could one day emulate them and play on the premier courts. One of those includes this year’s top seed Rafael Nadal.
“Gustavo Kuerten at that time was playing. And then I saw Nadal when I was young. You know, it started to inspire me and it started, like, yeah, maybe one day, you know, why not? Why not I cannot play there.” He explained.
Safwat is the only Egyptian player ranked in the top 300 on the men’s tour and is only one of six ranked inside the top 1000.
