Mayar Sherif on ending her long wait for a win and pride in her journey to top

It took Mayar Sherif three hours and 15 minutes of sheer battle to finally notch her first win of the year in the Madrid Open first round on Wednesday, and the Egyptian could not be more relieved.

Outside of Billie Jean King Cup (a nation v nation team competition), Sherif was winless in 2024, on the back of a history-making 2023 season in which she peaked at No 31 in the world to become the highest-ranked Egyptian tennis player ever to pick up a racquet.

An impressive march to the quarter-finals at the WTA 1000-level tournament in Madrid 12 months ago followed by back-to-back title runs at the WTA 125-level helped carry Sherif to the brink of the top 30.

But tennis can be a funny sport sometimes. One minute you’re winning 10 matches in a row and the next you are struggling amid a four-month losing stretch.

Confidence in tennis can take a long time to acquire but just a second to lose. Sherif has had first-hand experience with that.

“It's been difficult mentally. I’ve passed through a really tough period because I’ve been putting in the work on the court, practising, doing whatever I can to feel better on the court.

“But just when you get into that bubble of losing match after match, and then your confidence gets affected, that’s when it’s tough to get out of that,” Sherif told The National after her 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over Lauren Davis in the Spanish capital on Wednesday.

“I’m happy I broke that bad momentum kind of, and now I’m really excited and I have more confidence going into the next round.”

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Breaking “that bad momentum” was far from an easy task for Sherif. The 27-year-old Cairene trailed Davis by a set and 3-5, before she struck back to force a second-set tiebreak