(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Salah Tahlak, Tournament Director of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, revealed how a 'funny' conversation between him and Malek Jaziri inspired the Tunisian to produce the best tennis of his life in Dubai.
Jaziri, the world number 117, entered the tournament on a wildcard and went on to reach the semifinals - his first semifinal in a Premier 500 tournament.
The 34-year-old Tunisian player's dream run in Dubai started with a stunning win over top seed and world number four Grigor Dimitrov in the first round.
"I must say that I am very happy that Malek reached the semifinal. You know, when he defeated top seed Grigor, I had a funny conversation with him. I joked with him that he ruined our tournament by beating our best player and that it was his responsibility to rescue the tournament by going all the way," Tahlak told Khaleej Times in an exclusive interview on Saturday.
"We were actually having fun after he beat Grigor. But he promised me that he would try his best to do something special," Tahlak added.
Jaziri, of course, did go on to do something really special by becoming only the second Arab player after Moroccan legend Younes El Aynaoui to reach the Dubai semifinal with wins over last year's semifinalist Robin Haase in the round of 16 and emerging Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals.
"You know Malek had a fantastic tournament - even though he lost the semifinal to (Roberto) Bautista Agut last night (Friday)," Tahlak said.
"When I spoke to him after the match last night, he was little disappointed as he felt he should have taken the advantage of the 4-1 lead in the second set. I told him yes because he had the whole stadium with him and Bautista Agut had no one supporting him. That's what I said.
"But having said that, I am very happy with what he managed to achieve. And I congratulate him on a wonderful tournament. He brought all the fans to the stadium."
The tournament director of the award-winning championships also has fond memories of the 2002 event in which El Aynaoui finished runner-up, losing the final in three sets to Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
"Yes, I remember that final. Younes played against Fabrice Santoro. You know, Younes could have won that final. He thought Santoro was sick before the final, but the Frenchman surprised everyone by playing a very good match," he said.
This year, the performance of all the wildcards has pleased the tournament organisers.
"Two of our wildcards were in the semifinals last night. I think we picked the right players for the wildcards. Even (Marcos) Baghdatis, our other wildcard, had a good tournament," he said.
"I am happy also because we gave Malek the wildcard again this year. And he honoured that. He showed the responsibility to put more effort and energy into the tournament. So we are very happy for Malek. It was good for him and for the tournament."
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