Tennis Player Lies To Sneak Into Tournament, Embarrasses Herself, Then Vanishes In Hysterical Scene
The tennis story of the year has come early.
We're not even two weeks into 2026, but very well may have already witnessed the best and most hilarious moment the tennis world is going to deliver this year, courtesy of one Hajar Abdelkader.
Abdelkader, a 21-year-old woman from Egypt, played in an International Tennis Federation tournament in Kenya earlier this month. The issue with that is that she is not a professional tennis player. In fact, she outed herself as someone who has no idea how to even hit a tennis ball.
Abdelkader lost her match to Germany's Lorena Schedel 6-0, 6-0 in 37 minutes, and after seeing the ‘highlights’ of the match, Schedel should honestly be embarrassed that it took her a whole 37 minutes to earn the win.
Her match against Schedel may have been the first time Abdelkader had ever picked up a tennis racket. She recorded 20 double faults and reportedly had to ask her opponent where to serve the ball on the court.
Abdelkader got into the tournament at the last minute after a Kenyan athlete withdrew. This is a stunning note, seeing as how it means she was at the ready to take the court as a wild card at essentially the drop of a hat.
According to a source who spoke with The Telegraph, Abdelkader vanished after the match.
"She gave false information about her ranking and her stats. We can’t find her and don’t know where she’s gone to," the source said.
So, just to recap, we have a completely random woman submitting false information to get into a tennis tournament, be granted eligibility, proceed to play a match in which she looked like a wounded animal who doesn't possess thumbs, and then disappear back into the real world.
Truly incredible stuff.
Tennis Kenya issued a statement after the match admitting its mistake in letting Abdelkader in as a wild card.
"In hindsight, Tennis Kenya acknowledges that this wildcard should not have been granted. The federation has taken note of this experience and will ensure that such an extremely rare occurrence never happen again," part of the statement read.
You have to love the "in hindsight" preface.