Mayar Sherif Ahmed Abdel-Aziz (Arabic: ميار شريف أحمد عبد العزيز; born 5 May 1996) is an Egyptian tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 31 in singles, achieved on 19 June 2023, making her the highest ranked Egyptian player in the Open Era.[1] She also has a career high ranking of No. 88 in doubles, reached on 11 July 2022. Sherif has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2022 Emilia-Romagna Open. She has also won a record six WTA 125 singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour along with nine singles titles and six doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She is the younger sister of Rana Sherif Ahmed.[2]
Sherif spent her final two years of college at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, graduating in 2018 with a bachelor of science in sports medicine. She was part of the university's tennis team and was an All-American in both 2017 and 2018, and the West Coast Conference Player of the Year in 2018. She made the semifinals of the 2018 NCAA singles tournament and ended her senior season ranked 11th in the nation in singles.[3]
Sherif made her WTA Tour singles debut at the 2020 Prague Open. She was the first Egyptian female player in a main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the 2020 French Open.
She made history again for Egyptian tennis at the 2021 Australian Open, becoming the first woman from her nation to win a Grand Slam main-draw match.[4][5] She became also the first Egyptian woman to qualify for the Olympic Games and reach a WTA tournament final in Cluj-Napoca. At the 2023 Madrid Open, she became the first Egyptian player to reach a WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
Playing for Egypt Fed Cup team, she has a win–loss record of 19–11 (in doubles: 10–5) in Fed Cup competition.[6]
Professional career
2019–2020: Historic Grand Slam debut & WTA Tour debut
Sherif started 2020 playing in the Australian Open qualifiers which was her first appearance at a WTA tournament. She lost in the first round of qualifiers to Ann Li. In March, she won the title at a $25k tournament in Antalya defeating Dalma Gálfi in the final.
In August, at the Prague Open Prague Open, Sherif advanced through the qualifying making her main-draw debut at WTA Tour-level. In the first round, she lost there to Laura Siegemund in three sets.
In late September 2020, Sherif defeated Camila Osorio, Caty McNally and Giulia Gatto-Monticone in the French Open qualifying. Making her Grand Slam main-draw debut as the first Egyptian female player,[7] Sherif came up against second seed and world No. 3, Karolína Plíšková, losing in three sets.[8]
2021: Grand Slam match win, WTA finals, Olympics & top 100 debut
Sherif again made history as the first Egyptian woman to win a match at a Grand Slam tournament, beating Chloe Paquet in the first round of the Australian Open.[9]
She delivered another highlight, when she as the first Egyptian woman qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, after winning the 2019 African Games.[10][11]
2022: First WTA title & French Open win, top 50 in singles & top 100 in doubles
She made her top 50 debut in singles and reached world No. 98 in doubles on 16 May 2022.
At the French Open, she became the first Egyptian woman to win a Roland Garros main-draw match, after beating Marta Kostyuk in two sets. She withdrew in the second round due to injury.[14]
At the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma, Sherif defeated Anna Bondár, Simona Waltert, Lauren Davis, and Ana Bogdan to reach her second WTA 250 final, and her first since the previous summer. She then defeated top seed and world No. 7, Maria Sakkari, in straight sets to claim her first singles title and became the first woman from Egypt to win a WTA Tour title. The win against Sakkari was also her first top-10 win.[15]
2023: Historic maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal, record sixth WTA 125 title and career-high ranking
She won her second WTA 125 title in Valencia in two weeks following her triumph at the WTA 125 at the 2023 Makarska International Championships.[18][19] As a result, she reached a historic career high of No. 31 in the singles rankings becoming the highest ranked Egyptian player, male or female, in the Open Era. No other player had won more than three WTA 125 titles since it was introduced in 2012.[20]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
^ abEdition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
^The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
^ abcdefgDuring the season, she did not play in the main-draw of any WTA Tour-level tournaments. However, she played at the Billie Jean King Cup, which is not counted as a played tournament but as matches counted.
^2012: WTA Ranking-n/a,
2013: WTA Ranking-641,
...
2015-16: WTA Ranking-n/a,
2017: WTA Ranking-780,
2018: WTA Ranking-n/a.
^2013: WTA Ranking-700, ... 2015-16: WTA ranking-n/a, 2017: WTA ranking-1049, 2018: WTA ranking-n/a.
^The $10,000 tournaments were reclassified as $15,000 in 2017. However, there were some $15,000 even before 2017.