Ismail El Shafei

Ismail El Shafei (Arabic: إسماعيل الشافعي‎) (born 15 November 1947) is a former men's professional tennis player and president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the International Tennis Federation and is chairman of the ITF juniors circuit.[2] He won six career singles titles and reached eleven finals. In doubles, he won nine career titles.

Ismail El Shafei
Isamil El Shafei (1982)
Country (sports) Egypt
ResidenceCairo
Born (1947-11-15) 15 November 1947
Cairo
Turned pro1968 (amateur from 1964)
RetiredMarch 1983
PlaysLeft-handed (two-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record293–329 (47.1%)[1]
Career titles6[1]
Highest rankingNo. 34 (8 April 1975)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open3R (1971)
French Open3R (1969)
WimbledonQF (1974)
US Open4R (1974)
Doubles
Career record232–216 (Open era)
Career titles9
Highest rankingNo. 26 (30 August 1977)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenQF (1978)
French Open3R (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978)
WimbledonQF (1981)
US Open4R (1970)

Career

El Shafei played his first tournament in March 1962 at the Egyptian Championships losing in straight sets to Italian player Giuseppe Merlo in the round of 32.[3] He reached his first tournament final in Ostordorf, West Germany in 1963 before losing to Harald Elschenbroich. In 1964, he won the boys' singles tournament at Wimbledon. He won his first senior's tournament in San Jose, Costa Rica in January 1966. He won the Egyptian Open in Cairo three times (1969, 1974–1974). An adaptable player, he competed on all surfaces, (grass, clay, hard, and carpet). El Shafei is the only Egyptian player to make the top 40 in Grand Prix/ATP ranking history. He is one of only four players to beat Björn Borg at Wimbledon,[2] knocking him out in the third round in 1974 (the other three were John McEnroe, Roger Taylor and Arthur Ashe.) He reached his last professional singles final (exhibition) at the Cairo Invitational losing to Bjorn Borg in two sets in December 1979 and played his last singles tournament in June 1982 at the Bristol Open losing to then South African player Johan Kriek,[3] he retired in 1983.

Post playing career

Following his playing career El Shafei remained involved in tennis in an administrative role: he was elected president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation on two occasions (1994–96 and 2005–08).[4] In 1998, he was elected to the board of directors of the International Tennis Federation until 2001. He would serve a second term as director of the ITF (2003–2013).[4] In September 2015, he was elected for a third term as a director and is currently chairman of coaching and chairman of the juniors circuit.[4]

Personal

He was educated at Cairo University[4] and is the son of Adli El Shafei and father of Adli El Shafei II.

Career finals

Singles (6 titles, 11 runner-ups)
Result No. Year Tournament Location Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. Sep 1963 Ostordorf Tennis Tournament Ostordorf Clay Harald Elschenbroich 0–6, 0–6
Win 1. Jan 1966 San Jose Tennis Tournament San José Clay Gary Penberthy 6–2, 6–2, 6–4[5]
Loss 2. Jan 1967 Asian Championships Kalkutta Grass Alex Metreveli 3–6, 6–8, 4–6
Loss 3. Mar 1967 Egyptian Championships Cairo Clay Jan-Erik Lundqvist 4–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win 2. Jan 1968 German Indoor Championships Bremen Hard (i) Daniel Contet 6–2, 6–2, 9–7
Loss 4. Mar 1968 Egyptian Championships Cairo Clay Milan Holecek 6–4, 3–6, 1–6, 2–6
Loss 5. Mar 1968 Le Touquet Tennis tournament Cairo Clay François Jauffret 1–6, 2–6, 3–6
Loss 6. Feb 1969 U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships Salisbury Hard (i) Stan Smith 3–6, 8–6, 4–6, 4–6
Win 3. Mar 1969 Egyptian Open Cairo Clay Istvan Gulyas 6–2, 6–2, 9–7
Loss 7. Mar 1969 Alexandria International Championships Alexandria Clay Istvan Gulyas 1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 5–7
Loss 8. Oct 1969 Dewar Cup Perth Perth Carpet (i) Mark Cox 6–3, 12–14, 1–6
Loss 9. Mar 1971 Egyptian Open Cairo Clay Alex Metreveli 6–8, 9–7, 4–6
Win 4. Mar 1973 Egyptian Open Cairo Clay Patrick Proisy 6–4, 6–8, 6–3, 6–3
Win 5. Mar 1974 Egyptian Open Cairo Clay François Jauffret 6–0, 4–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win 6. Nov 1974 Philippine Open Manila Hard Hans-Jürgen Pohmann 7–6, 6–1[5][6]
Loss 10. Aug 1975 Brummana International Brummana Clay Nikola Pilic 6–7, 6–3, 6–7, 7–6, 4–6
Loss 11. Nov 1977 Taipei Summit Championships Taipei Hard (i) Tim Gullikson 6–7, 6–3, 6–7, 7–6, 4–6[7]

Doubles (9 titles)
Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
1974 St. Louis WCT, U.S. Clay Brian Fairlie Geoff Masters
Ross Case		 7–6, 6–7, 7–6
1974 Christchurch, New Zealand N/A Roscoe Tanner Syd Ball
Ray Ruffels		 w/o
1974 Jakarta, Indonesia Hard Roscoe Tanner Jürgen Fassbender
Hans-Jürgen Pohmann		 7–5, 6–3
1976 ATP Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) Brian Fairlie Syd Ball
Kim Warwick		 7–5, 6–7, 7–6
1977 Newport, U.S. Grass Brian Fairlie Tim Gullikson
Tom Gullikson		 6–7, 6–3, 7–6
1978 Cairo, Egypt Clay Brian Fairlie Lito Álvarez
George Hardie		 6–3, 7–5, 6–2
1980 Cairo, Egypt Clay Tom Okker Christophe Freyss
Bernard Fritz		 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
1980 Gstaad, Switzerland Clay Colin Dowdeswell Mark Edmondson
Kim Warwick		 6–4, 6–4
1981 Cairo, Egypt Clay Balázs Taróczy Paolo Bertolucci
Gianni Ocleppo		 6–7, 6–3, 6–1

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Won Wimbledon Championship for Boys 1964 & was runner-up in 1963

Tournament1968196919701971197219731974197519761977197819791980Career SRCareer W–LCareer Win %
Australian Open A A A 3R A A A A A A 1R A A 0 / 2 2–2 33.33
French Open A 3R A A A 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R A A 0 / 7 4–7 36.36
Wimbledon 2R 1R 3R 1R A A QF 2R 3R 1R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 11 10–11 47.61
US Open A 3R 1R 1R A 3R 4R A 2R A A A A 0 / 6 8–6 53.33
Win–Loss 1–1 4–3 2–2 2–3 0–0 2–2 8–3 1–2 3–3 1–2 0–3 0–1 0–1 0 / 26 24–26 48.00

Davis Cup

El Shafei participated in 17 ties for Egypt, where he played 42 matches, winning 23, losing 19 he also served as team captain in the 1980s.[8]

References
  1. "Ismail El Shafei: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Tennis Base. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  2. Harwitt, Sandra (30 September 2016). "ITF Junior Chairman El Shafei on the scene in Budapest". itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  3. "Ismail El Shafei: Player Activity". thetennisbase.com. Tennis Base. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  4. "Meet the Board". itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation, 25 September 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  5. "Ismail El Shafei: Tournament results". thetennisbase.com. Tennis Base. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  6. "Manila Results Grand Prix Tour 1974". ATP World Tour. ATP. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  7. "Taipei Results Grand Prix Tour 1977". ATP World Tour. ATP. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  8. ""Meet the Board" ITF Board of Directors for 2015–2019". ktf.kz. Tennis Federation of Kazakhstan. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
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