Selima Sfar

Selima Sfar
	Selima Sfar at the 2009 Open GDF Suez
Country (sports)	Tunisia
Residence	Biarritz, France
Born	8 July 1977 (age 47); Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	1999
Retired	2011
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$876,041
Singles
Career record	395–383
Career titles	11 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 75 (16 July 2001)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2002, 2005)
French Open	2R (2001, 2008)
Wimbledon	2R (2001, 2002, 2005)
US Open	2R (2001)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (1996, 2008)
Doubles
Career record	238–201
Career titles	21 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 47 (28 July 2008)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2006, 2008)
French Open	2R (2005, 2007)
Wimbledon	QF (2008)
US Open	2R (2005, 2006, 2007)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	41–24

Selima Sfar (Arabic: سليمة صفر Salima Safar; born 8 July 1977) is a Tunisian former tennis player.

She turned professional in 1999 and has been ranked as high as 75th in the world (16 July 2001). Sfar is the second highest ranked female Tunisian and Arab player. She has experienced most of her success in tournaments of the ITF Women's Circuit, winning 11 singles titles and 21 doubles titles.

Biography

Sfar started playing tennis at age 8 at the Tennis Club of Carthage. She left Tunis at age 12 to live and train with Nathalie Tauziat under coach Régis de Camaret in Biarritz, France. The serve-and-volleyer preferred indoor hardcourts; favorite shots were serve, backhand. Father, Moncef, is a physician; mother, Zeineb, is a dermatologist; older sister is Sonia and younger brother is Hassan. She is a granddaughter of Habib Cheikhrouhou who founded the press group Dar Assabah in 1951.^[1]

Tennis career

As a junior, Sfar won the Arab Junior Singles in 1992 and reached the quarter-finals of the junior tournament at French Open. In 1994, she was African junior champion. She turned professional in 1999. In 2000, she qualified for the US Open, to become the first Tunisian to achieve this feat. In the meantime, she was able to receive wildcards for Middle Eastern tournaments in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. At the Dubai Tennis Championships in 2001, she reached the quarterfinals, beating Silvija Talaja and Barbara Schett before being defeated by Nathalie Tauziat, in three sets. In that year, she became the first Arab woman to break into the top 100 of the WTA rankings.^[1]^[2]

Sfar played for the Tunisia Fed Cup team, going 41–24. She also competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round to Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, and the 2008 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round to Caroline Wozniacki. Sfar holds the records for the Tunesian in the Fed Cup with the most wins, the most singles wins, the most doubles wins, the most ties played, and the most years played.^[3]

At the 2005 African Cup of Nations in Tunis, Sfar won the gold medal at both the singles and mixed teams' competitions.^[4]

At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, Sfar and her partner Ekaterina Makarova reached the quarterfinals of the ladies' doubles, before they were defeated by Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.

In 2011, Sfar announced her retirement from professional tennis. In the meantime, she became a commentator for Qatari sports channel, beIN Sports.

At the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, Sfar teamed with Martina Navratilova for the Invitational Ladies Doubles, and they won all three of their matches in their group.

Post-retirement

On 28 August 2023, Sfar had an interview with L'Équipe in which she accused her coach, Régis de Camaret, of rape and sexual abuse, when she was 12 and a half years old.^[1] The same coach was accused by Isabelle Demongeot of similar misconduct and later jailed for 8 years in 2012.^[5]

ITF finals

$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles: 19 (11–8)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	14 August 1994	ITF Carthage, Tunisia	Clay	Anne-Gaëlle Sidot	5–7, 6–3, 6–4
Win	2.	26 March 1995	ITF Moulins, France	Hard (i)	Linda Sentis	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win	3.	26 November 1995	ITF Le Havre, France	Clay (i)	Émilie Loit	0–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win	4.	4 February 1996	ITF Dinan, France	Clay (i)	Virginie Massart	6–4, 7–6⁽⁸⁾
Win	5.	11 August 1996	ITF Carthage, Tunisia	Clay	Marielle Bruens	7–5, 6–4
Win	6.	14 December 1997	ITF Ismailia, Egypt	Clay	Tzipora Obziler	5–7, 7–5, 6–4
Loss	1.	22 June 1998	ITF Sezze, Italy	Clay	Alice Canepa	5–7, 2–6
Win	7.	30 April 2000	ITF Bournemouth, United Kingdom	Clay	Dragana Zarić	7–5, 6–2
Loss	2.	17 July 2000	ITF Le Touquet, France	Clay	Bianka Lamade	5–7, 4–6
Loss	3.	31 July 2000	Open Saint-Gaudens, France	Clay	Elena Tatarkova	4–6, 4–6
Win	8.	22 September 2002	GB Pro-Series Glasgow, UK	Hard (i)	Anne Keothavong	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 2–6, 7–6⁽⁸⁾
Win	9.	3 November 2002	ITF Nottingham, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Lilia Osterloh	6–2, 6–2
Loss	4.	26 July 2004	ITF Modena, Italy	Clay	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	2–6, 4–6
Loss	5.	1 November 2004	ITF Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium	Hard (i)	Yvonne Meusburger	4–6, 3–6
Win	10.	14 May 2006	ITF Jounieh, Lebanon	Clay	Anastasiya Yakimova	6–4, 7–5
Loss	6.	10 April 2007	Open de Biarritz, France	Clay	Pauline Parmentier	2–6, 4–6
Win	11.	13 May 2007	ITF Jounieh, Lebanon	Clay	Mariya Koryttseva	6–2, 4–6, 7–6⁽³⁾
Loss	7.	7 April 2008	Open de Biarritz, France	Clay	Kathrin Wörle	1–6, 3–6
Loss	8.	5 July 2009	ITF Mont-de-Marsan, France	Clay	Anna Gerasimou	5–7, 3–6

Doubles: 33 (21–12)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	25 July 1994	ITF La Coruña, Spain	Clay	Olivia de Camaret	Sandra de Rafael Paula Hermida	4–6, 6–2, 6–3
Win	2.	1 August 1994	ITF Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Olivia de Camaret	Cora Hofmann Alexandra Seitarth	4–6, 6–1, 6–0
Loss	1.	5 August 1996	ITF Carthage, Tunisia	Clay	Sandrine Bouilleau	Mariëlle Bruens Bahia Mouhtassine	w/o
Win	3.	21 April 1997	ITF Guimarães, Portugal	Hard	Élodie Le Bescond	Kildine Chevalier Jindra Gabrisová	6–4, 6–2
Win	4.	8 December 1997	ITF Ismailia, Egypt	Clay	Bérangère Karpenschif	Bianca Kamper Nicole Remis	6–3, 7–6⁽⁵⁾
Loss	2.	11 May 1998	ITF Le Touquet, France	Clay	Élodie Le Bescond	Vanina Casanova Romina Ottoboni	6–7, 0–1 ret.
Win	5.	22 June 1998	ITF Sezze, Italy	Clay	Vanina Casanova	Alice Canepa Alessia Lombardi	6–3, 6–1
Win	6.	20 July 1998	ITF Valladolid, Spain	Hard	Gisela Riera	Eva Bes Rosa María Andrés Rodríguez	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 7–6⁽³⁾
Loss	3.	27 July 1998	ITF Pamplona, Spain	Hard	Meike Fröhlich	Eva Bes Amanda Hopmans	w/o
Win	7.	10 May 1999	ITF Edinburgh, United Kingdom	Clay	Jo Ward	Surina De Beer Lorna Woodroffe	6–4, 6–2
Loss	4.	26 July 1999	ITF Pamplona, Spain	Hard	Jo Ward	Hiroko Mochizuki Ludmila Richterová	6–2, 4–6, 3–6
Win	8.	2 August 1999	ITF Perigueux, France	Clay	Jo Ward	Hanna-Katri Aalto Rika Fujiwara	6–4, 6–3
Loss	5.	6 February 2000	ITF Jersey, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Jo Ward	Elena Bovina Anna Zaporozhanova	3–6, 2–6
Win	9.	24 April 2000	ITF Bournemouth, United Kingdom	Clay	Lorna Woodroffe	Hannah Collin Zsófia Gubacsi	6–1, 6–0
Win	10.	1 May 2000	ITF Hatfield, United Kingdom	Clay	Jo Ward	Zsófia Gubacsi Jasmin Wöhr	7–6⁽⁶⁾, 6–2
Loss	6.	15 May 2000	ITF Edinburgh, United Kingdom	Clay	Lorna Woodroffe	Natalie Grandin Nicole Rencken	6–0, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	7.	3 November 2002	ITF Nottingham, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Lucie Ahl	Kim Grant Lilia Osterloh	1–6, 2–6
Win	11.	20 April 2003	Open de Biarritz, France	Clay	Lucie Ahl	Yuliya Beygelzimer Anna Zaporozhanova	6–1, 6–1
Loss	8.	18 August 2003	Bronx Open, United States	Hard	Mara Santangelo	Yuliya Beygelzimer Tatiana Poutchek	4–6, 5–7
Win	12.	13 September 2004	ITF Bordeaux, France	Clay	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Erica Krauth Jasmin Wöhr	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
Loss	9.	10 October 2004	Open de Touraine, France	Clay	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Květa Peschke Angelika Rösch	w/o
Win	13.	18 October 2004	ITF Saint-Raphaël, France	Hard (i)	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Barbora Strýcová Galina Voskoboeva	7–6⁽³⁾, 2–6, 6–4
Win	14.	1 November 2004	ITF Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium	Hard (i)	Virginie Pichet	Eva Fislová Stanislava Hrozenská	6–1, 7–6⁽²⁾
Win	15.	23 November 2004	ITF Poitiers, France	Hard (i)	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Gabriela Chmelinová Michaela Paštiková	7–5, 6–4
Win	16.	12 April 2005	Open de Biarritz, France	Clay	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Timea Bacsinszky Aurélie Védy	6–2, 6–1
Win	17.	15 November 2005	ITF Deauville, France	Clay (i)	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Alona Bondarenko Kateryna Bondarenko	6–3, 6–1
Loss	10.	26 March 2007	ITF Latina, Italy	Hard	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Sara Errani Giulia Gabba	3–6, 6–1, 6–7⁽²⁾
Loss	11.	6 April 2008	ITF Torhout, Belgium	Hard	Stéphanie Cohen-Alor	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Yanina Wickmayer	4–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Win	18.	20 July 2009	ITF Pétange, Luxembourg	Clay	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Darija Jurak Kathrin Wörle	6–2, 3–6, [10–7]
Win	19.	12 October 2009	Open de Touraine, France	Hard	Youlia Fedossova	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro Aurélie Védy	4–6, 6–0, [10–8]
Win	20.	22 February 2010	Biberach Open, Germany	Hard (i)	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Mona Barthel Carmen Klaschka	5–7, 6–1, [10–5]
Loss	12.	17 October 2010	Open de Touraine, France	Hard (i)	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Tatjana Malek Irena Pavlovic	4–6, 7–5, [8–10]
Win	21.	24 January 2011	Open de l'Isère, France	Hard (i)	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	Iryna Brémond Aurélie Védy	6–1, 6–3