Thursday 17 / October / 2024
Muscat: Oman’s number one female tennis star Fatma Al Nabhani’s decision to walk out of an international tournament, citing racism, has sparked a high-ranking inquiry by the sport’s governing bodies.
Al Nabhani abandoned her second round match at the ITF France 21A Tournament and has revealed her reasons in an exclusive interview.
Video: Oman tennis star Al Nabhani back after quitting tournament in France
She says she was not given water on court, there were no ball boys during her match and the umpire demanded she remove leggings she chooses to wear during matches because of her faith.
Visibly upset by events in Clermont, France, Fatma took to social media to explain her reasons to fans and on arrival back in Oman spoke to Times of Oman’s sister paper Al Shabiba about the scandal.
The sport’s governing body, the International Tennis Federation, is now investigating her allegations.
Al Nabhani claims that she faced racial discrimination during her participation in the French championship in Clermont-Ferrand, explaining that from her arrival she felt uncomfortable.
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“For the first game I went to warm up an hour beforehand and asked the court supervisor to give me priority to enter because my matches were starting after an hour, however the woman's response was not fit. After this I went on to the court in order to focus on the first match, however racial discrimination was present from the first day of the tournament. The chair umpire criticised me for wearing leggings before the coin toss, requesting me to remove them if I wanted to participate in the match. I told him that I have been playing with them for the last 12 years and can’t play without them.”
“The ITF and Women's Tennis Association dress code allows leggings below the knee, and I asked him to resort to the general rules of the tournament before making a decision on refusing to let me play, and indeed the general rules stated that such clothing is allowed.”
“Despite this he asked me to raise the leggings and asked him if this makes a big difference to him," she went on to say.
Al Nabhani recounts that before the game a number of players came to calm her down, noting that getting the points were important to her.
"Thank God I managed to get through the game and win."
Deliberate errors
Speaking about the second game, Al Nabhani says that it was the most important for her, as she came out of it ranked 360th, which she refers to as being a "good ranking."
"Before the game I went to collect the water allocated to me by the organising committee. The committee provides water to the players prior to their matches, so that they can make the specific energy drink that they each require. However when I asked one of the organising committee employees, she replied that the water was available outside, which is not a logical response.”
Al Nabhani explains that this is is considered standard practice, as the organising committee is required to provide the players with water on the court. She ended up going out to get water for herself so that she would be able to concentrate on the game.
"It’s as if everyone is trying to affect you,” Al Nabhani added, before going on to speak about further issues that she faced.
“There were no ball boys present and we had to collect the balls ourselves. It’s common knowledge that ball boys are one of the fundamentals of the game. According to the rules of tennis, balls are not allowed to be scattered across the court, nor is anything allowed to be on the court, including leaves, so as not to distract players.”
Al Nabhani says that from the very start of the game her opponent was deliberately placing balls in her own half of the court as a means of distracting her.
“When I went to the chair umpire and told him, he responded to me by saying: This is a court and it is her choice to do so."
“The first set ended in my favour and I tried hard to deal with the way in which the umpire treated me. There was clear discrimination in how he dealt with the two players. Between the two sets the umpire was exchanging words with the other player in French and she also continued to place the ball next to the net in the second set, in order to provoke me and she did this repeatedly.”
“I went to the umpire again so as to complain about the opponent, however unfortunately he said that this was her choice as it was on her side of the court. I asked him to revert to the general rules of the championship, however he refused, saying that he had the right to make the decision.”
At the end of the second set Al Nabhani recounts that she needed the point in order to wrap up the match, explaining that she subsequently got the point following which, the spectators even started to leave, as her gaining the point meant that the match was over.
“The umpire's decision however came as a surprise as he ruled that the ball was outside of the line," she says.
“The referee continued to make decisions against me and rule that my balls were landing outside of the line."
“When I went to speak to the umpire to discuss the decisions in a respectful manner, he issued me with a warning because I had contested seven consecutive errors. The second set ended in favour of my opponent, and the umpire continued to make deliberate errors, meaning that had I continued I would not have won the game.”
“The main umpire came down to the court and when he spoke to him [the chair umpire] he also gave me a warning.”
“I left the court after explaining the entire situation to the main umpire about the presence of racism at the tournament, with me being the only Arab and Muslim."
"I have been playing tennis since my childhood and I am honoured to represent my country at various international tournaments. I try to constantly develop myself and I spend time training, in games and in competitions, representing my country in a good way.”
“I never expected the moment to come in which I felt that sport was linked to racism. The way I felt when participating in the French championship is the worst I've ever felt during my career due to the obvious discrimination.”
The International Tennis Federation investigation begins
Al Nabhani explains that immediately upon forfeiting the game, she sent a letter to the ITF and the WTA, in which she explained all the details of her ordeal, addressing how she was treated by the organisers, noting the discrimination that took place during the tournament, either before or during the matches.
Al Nabhani says she has received a response from the ITF apologising for the incident and stating that the subject of racism is taken very seriously, adding that the incident will be investigated fully.
She rounded off by saying that the ITF had questioned her about the incident and that it would be questioning the organising committee in addition to other players who had been participating in the tournament.
Al Nabhani stressed that such actions must be renounced and that the umpires and organisers should receive punishment.
Salman Al Balushi, Executive Manager of the Oman Tennis Association said that they stood a hundred per cent behind Fatma.
“The problem here is between Fatma and the umpire, and there should not have been a problem to begin with,” he told the Times of Oman.
“As the national tennis organisation, we have a serious problem with this treatment of Fatma and it is simply not acceptable. We have already received permission from the International Tennis Federation for Fatma to play in the attire that she is wearing, so I do not see why this umpire has to have a problem. This is part of our culture and he must respect that.
He added “we have already submitted an official complaint to the ITF because it is simply not acceptable to treat a player like this. Other players in the tournament have also come forward to support her.”
