A professional female tennis match at the ITF Nairobi tournament has gone viral and sparked outrage after one of the players looked as if she’d never picked up a racquet before.
In stunning vision that has to be seen to be believed, World No. 1026 Lorena Schaedel defeated her 21-year-old Egyptian opponent Hajar Abdelkader 6-0, 6-0, with Schaedel dropping just three points all game.
Abdelkader, who won a wildcard into the tournament, clearly had no business being in a professional match.
Not only did she struggle hitting the ball over the net, Abdelkader had to be reminded on several occasions by the umpire where she had to stand to start the point.
She double faulted on 20 of her 24 service points. The three points she did win, two were from Schaedel double faults, the other an unforced error.
According to her ITF profile, this was Abdelkader’s first ever tour-level match.
That’s hardly a surprise, but what might come as a shock is that the profile says the 21-year-old has played tennis for seven years.
Abdelkader is believed to have received a late wildcard after a local Kenyan player pulled out last minute.
Unsurprisingly, the reaction on social media was vicious.
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