Published: 07/09/2022 15:04 / Updated on 07/09/2022 15:05
(Credit: SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP)
Tunisian tennis player Anas Jaber, the first Arab woman to play in a Grand Slam final, who lost on Saturday to Kazakh Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon, expressed regret that her parents were absent from the match in London because they could not obtain an entry visa. to enter the United Kingdom.
In a text published before the match on the BBC website, Jaber, who is nicknamed by Tunisians “the Minister of Happiness”, wrote that with the exception of her brother Hatem, who arrived specially from Tunisia, “Unfortunately the other members of my country did not get a visa.”
“It will be difficult for them, but they will congratulate me when I get home,” the player wrote, without going into details.
He added, “My parents Samira and Reda and my sister Yasmine cannot come to London, but it would be great if Hatem and maybe my brother-in-law were here.”
In Tunisia, the British Embassy responded to the player’s text in a tweet: “We root for you with all of Tunisia. We are sorry that your parents and sister cannot be there to support you, we will investigate what happened.”
