Qualified for the Australian Open, Hady Habib becomes the first Lebanese to participate in a Grand Slam tournament

The other good news from this Thursday, January 9 in Lebanon came from the other side of the globe, on the grounds of Melbourne in Australia. At the end of the suspense, at the end of a 3rd set concluded with a breathtaking tie-break in which he had to save three match points, Hady Habib defeated his French opponent Clément Chidekh with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10/8).

By winning this third and final qualifying round of the Australian Open tennis tournament, the 26-year-old Lebanese became the first Lebanese player in the Open era to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. . He had previously dominated the American Patrick Kypson (6-4, 7-6) and the Taiwanese Chun Hsin Tseng by the same score during the first two qualifying rounds.

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Currently ranked 219th in the world at ATP, Hady Habib will face Chinese Yunchaokete Bu (65th) on Sunday in his first round. “This is a huge achievement for Lebanese tennis. This brings positive news in a country which has been enduring a lot of things lately,” he declared after his qualification at the microphone of an Australian media.

Next round Sunday at 1:30 p.m. local time

Last summer, Hady Habib had already discovered the thrill of the Grand Slam tournament courts during his participation in the men’s singles tennis tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the clay court of Roland-Garros. A first already for Lebanese tennis which had never sent any representative until then during an Olympics. He had the honor of competing against the current 3rd player in the world, Carlos Alcaraz, in a sold-out Suzanne-Lenglen court.

He also participated in the doubles tournament with Benjamin Hassan (222nd) who also played in the qualifications for the Australian Open, but was eliminated in the 2nd round by the Tunisian Aziz Dougaz (3-6, 7- 6, 6-4).

The Lebanese has already invited the Lebanese community of Melbourne to come and encourage him during his first round which will begin at 1:30 p.m. local time (i.e. 4:30 a.m. Lebanese time). “I would like to invite all Lebanese living here in Melbourne to come and support me for my next match. I also want to thank everyone who has given me their support from Lebanon in recent days, it means a lot to me,” he added.