Fatma returns to Oman after walking out of tennis tournament in France

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Omani tennis player Fatma Al Nabhani arrived in the Sultanate, after walking out of the ITF France 21A tournament and accusing match officials of racism.

She took to social media yesterday, claiming that match officials had refused to award her points on purpose and had openly favoured her opponent.

In a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, Al Nabhani was seen arriving at the airport.

“Firstly, I’m really happy to be back home in Oman and to leave behind everything negative there,” she responded, when asked how she was feeling. “I’m just happy to be back with my family and my people. I just need to rest a little so that I can forget what happened.”

Al Nabhani went on to say that the International Tennis Federation was looking into the matter. “The international federation is investigating the matter and is taking it seriously.”

In her initial statement on social media yesterday, Al Nabhani said that she was allowed to play only after they made her “pull [her leggings] up a bit higher because that two extra inches of skin was a big deal for them”.

She also claimed that during her second match, which she walked out of, the chair umpire was biased against her, “stealing five match points from me and giving me a code violation for complaining, while my opponent should have got it for swearing and bad language, and misbehaving”.

Al Nabhani added that the umpire was “having a conversation in French during each changeover and laughing with my opponent”.

The 27-year-old, who is the Gulf region’s first female professional tennis player and currently ranked 422nd in the world, took to social media to post a video about the manner in which she was poorly treated, in addition to filing a report with the International Tennis Federation and the Women’s Tennis Association.