Selima Sfar ( ar, سليمة صفر ; born 8 July 1977) is a retired Tunisian tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and has been ranked as high as 75th in the world (16 July 2001). Sfar is the second highest ranked female Tunisian and Arab player. She has experienced most of her success in ITF tournaments, winning 11 singles titles and 21 doubles titles.

Biography

Left Tunis at age 13 to live and train with Nathalie Tauziat in Biarritz, France. The serve-and-volleyer preferred indoor hardcourts; favorite shots were serve, backhand. Father, Moncef, is a physician; mother, Zeineb, is a dermatologist; older sister is Sonia and younger brother is Hassan. Most memorable experience was qualifying for her favourite tournament, the US Open, in 2000.

Tennis career

Sfar was able to receive wildcards for Middle Eastern tournaments in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

. At the

Dubai Tennis Championships The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the ''Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'' for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's ...

in 2001, she reached the quarterfinals, beating

Silvija Talaja Silvija Talaja (born 14 January 1978) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. Talaja won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as one singles title on the ITF Women's Circuit, ITF Circuit. On 29 May 2000, s ...

and Barbara Schett before being defeated by Nathalie Tauziat, in three sets. Sfar played for the

Tunisia Fed Cup team The Tunisia Billie Jean King Cup team represents Tunisia in the Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Fédération Tunisienne de Tennis. History Tunisia competed in its first Fed Cup in 1992. Their best result was thi ...

, going 41–24. She also competed in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, losing in the first round to

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy Brenda Anne Marie Schultz-McCarthy (born 28 December 1970) is a former Dutch tennis player. Primarily known by her maiden name Brenda Schultz, she married Sean McCarthy, a former American football player at University of Cincinnati, on 8 April ...

, and the 2008 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round to

Caroline Wozniacki Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...

. Sfar holds the records for the Tunesian in the Fed Cup with the most wins, the most singles wins, the most doubles wins, the most ties played, and the most years played. At the

2008 Wimbledon Championships The 2008 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 122nd edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...

, Sfar and her partner

Ekaterina Makarova Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles. She ...

reached the quarterfinals of the ladies' doubles, before they were defeated by

Lisa Raymond Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American retired professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven Grand Slam titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On J ...

and

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...

. In 2011, Sfar announced her retirement from professional tennis. In the meantime, she became a commentator for Qatari sports channel "JSC Sport". At the

2015 Wimbledon Championships Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

, Sfar teamed with Martina Navratilova for the Invitational Ladies Doubles, and they won all three of their matches in their group.

ITF finals

Singles: 19 (11–8)

Doubles: 33 (21–12)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sfar, Selima 1977 births Living people People from Tunis Governorate Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in France Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Tunisian female tennis players Olympic tennis players of Tunisia Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics 20th-century Tunisian women 21st-century Tunisian women