Month: March 2023

March 16, 2023

“I remember when I first started playing, it was actually by mistake. My parents never did sports, and I have two older brothers who are more study-oriented. I started playing tennis very late, around 10 years old. One day, I went with my brothers to play football with their friends, and the ball went over the wall. I didn’t know back then, but the football field was right next to tennis courts. Since I was the youngest among the group, I had to get the ball, and that’s how I discovered the courts. One day, I just asked my brothers to go play, and that’s how I started. Then I never stopped. Once I started, I kept going up. After a year, I was already on the national team. At a young age, we started traveling around Africa to play in regional tournaments. By 13 or 14, I started to travel to Europe, playing in more serious tournaments. I remember my first time traveling to the States, it was to play in the Orange Bowl. It was quite an experience traveling so far, but it was an exciting one because I did good. In Tunisia, we don’t really have the (more…)

March 9, 2023

“One thing that differentiates me from other players is that tennis is not everything. It’s a phase in my life. I believe most players live thinking that everything and everyone revolves around them. I am a tennis player, but more importantly I’m a son, a brother, a friend, an uncle and a boyfriend. I like to work on my social life and relationships the same way I work on my tennis, because it is a very important area of my life. If I am feeling good with the people around me, my game flows. Pressure is a big issue that we have to learn how to deal with. I think that losses used to have a bigger effect on me. I used to get down on myself and started to doubt the work I had put in. Now, wins have a greater impact on my life. I see wins as an opportunity to be an example to others, and to inspire the people around me with what I do. We’ve been so lucky to have leaders like Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, and they have inspired many of us to lead by example not only on court, off the court too: (more…)