Mayar Sherif Ahmed Abdel-Aziz (Arabic: ميار شريف أحمد عبد العزيز; born 5 May 1996) is an Egyptian tennis player. She is the younger sister of Rana Sherif Ahmed.[1] She has career-high WTA rankings of World No. 49 in singles and World No. 95 in doubles achieved on 6 June 2022. Sherif has won three singles titles and one doubles title on WTA Challenger Tour along with nine singles titles and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
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.[2]
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.[3][4] She became also the first Egyptian woman to qualify for the Olympic Games and reach a WTA tournament final in Cluj-Napoca.
2019–2020: Historic Grand Slam debut and WTA 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,[6] Sherif came up against second seed and world No. 3, Karolína Plíšková, losing in three sets.[7]
2021: Historic first Grand Slam match win, WTA finals and 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.[8]
She delivered another highlight, when she as the first Egyptian woman qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, after winning the 2019 African Games.[9][10]
2022: Historic French Open win & top 50 debut in singles, top 100 in doubles
She made her top 50 debut in singles and top 100 in doubles at World No. 98 on 16 May 2022.
At the 2022 French Open she became the first Egyptian woman to win a Roland Garros main draw match after beating Marta Kostyuk in two sets (6-3, 7-5). She withdrew in the second round due to injury.[13]
Performance timeline
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
P
NH
(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; (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.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[14]
^Withdraw during the tournament. Not counted as a loss.
^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.