As Jabeur and Sherif make history, WTA's lack of TV coverage in Mena region a problem

When Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur won the Madrid Open last year and became the first Arab and African woman in history to win a WTA 1000 tournament, no one in the Middle East or North Africa could watch any of her matches on television.

When she stormed to the Rome final the following week, her fans in the Arab world either resorted to following her live scores, or found illegal streams to watch her matches online. Still nothing on TV.

A few months later, Mayar Sherif stunned top-five player Maria Sakkari in the Parma final to become the first Egyptian to win a WTA title. Those matches, too, were nowhere to be seen on any TV screen across the Arab region.

By the end of the year, Jabeur made further history by becoming the first Tunisian, Arab or North African player to qualify for the prestigious season-closing WTA Finals.

She was ranked No 2 in the world, pulling off one unprecedented feat after the other, but no TV channel in the region felt the urge to buy the rights to air WTA matches and showcase Jabeur’s history-making campaign.

A deal between the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) and beIN Sports for the Mena rights ended at the start of last year. It was never renewed and those rights have not been acquired since.

With the women’s tour featuring two top-40 Arab players in Jabeur and Sherif, not having a rights deal in place for the Mena region is, quite simply, a disgrace.

“It’s a shame. It’s really frustrating. Are we really that bad to [not] show us on TV?” Jabeur told The National in an interview at Wimbledon last week.

“You have someone from an Arab country making history, for the first time ever and you think that’s not a good enough product? There is a lot of mystery in there. I don’t have all the facts.