Mohammed Ghareeb (born July 22, 1980) is a tennis player from Kuwait. He plays right-handed with a single-handed backhand.

Mohammed Ghareeb
Country (sports) Kuwait
Born (1980-07-22) 22 July 1980 (age 44)
Kuwait City, Kuwait
Turned pro2000
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$161,075
Singles
Career record28–15
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 336 (17 July 2006)
Current rankingnone (29 January 2018)
Doubles
Career record9–18
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 264 (9 June 2008)
Current rankingNo. 1509 (29 January 2018)
Medal record
Representing  Kuwait
Men's Tennis
Islamic Solidarity Games
Silver medal – second place 2005 Ta'if Singles
Silver medal – second place 2013 Palembang Team
Pan Arab Games
Gold medal – first place 2011 Doha Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2011 Doha Team

Career

edit

Unranked in singles as of February 2018, with a career-high ranking of No. 336 in 2006.[1] In August 2016, Al Ghareeb was Kuwait's second ranked tennis player.[2]

He played a competitive match against world No. 1 Roger Federer in the second round of the 2006 Dubai Tennis Championships, though he lost in straight sets.[3] Ranked No. 488 at the time of the match, Ghareeb was expected to offer little resistance to Federer, but in a surprisingly competitive match, Al Ghareeb led 5–3 in the first set, and 3–2 in the second, before succumbing 7–6, 6–4.[4] According to Federer, Al Ghareeb was "definitely the better player and I think only my experience helped me get through."[5]

Al Ghareeb did not make a significant breakthrough at a top-level event, though in the 2007 Dubai Tennis Championships he won a set from Top 10 player Tomáš Berdych before losing 3–6, 6–3, 6–2.[6] Al Ghareeb again received a wild-card to Dubai in 2008, losing 6–4, 6–0 in the first round to the fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko. Once again, he received a wild card in 2009, losing 7–5, 4–6, 4–6 in the first round to third seed Gilles Simon. Simon praised his opponent's play and expressed surprise at his low ranking, saying that Al Ghareeb "has a strange ranking, 400 or so, with his game, it's just unbelievable."[7]

In 2007, he led the Kuwaiti team in its most successful Davis Cup season, reaching the Asia/Oceania Group II final with victories over Iran and Indonesia, before losing the division championship match to the Philippines in a 0–5 sweep.[8] As of February 2018, Ghareeb had a 67–31 record in Davis Cup play for Kuwait (50-13 in singles), and was its longest-standing member.[9]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

edit

Singles: 10 (5–5)

edit
ATP Challenger (0–0)
ITF Futures (5–5)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 2003 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Ivo Klec 6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Loss 0–2 Apr 2005 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Florin Mergea 6–4, 3–6, 5–7
Loss 0–3 May 2007 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Robert Smeets 3–6, 2–6
Loss 0–4 Jun 2007 Koszalin, Poland Futures Clay   Dawid Olejniczak 6–7(5–7), 6–2, 4–6
Loss 0–5 Mar 2008 Gurgaon, India Futures Hard   Nathan Thompson 2–6, 2–6
Win 1–5 May 2008 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Johan Örtegren 6–0 ret.
Win 2–5 May 2009 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Malek Jaziri 6–4, 6–4
Win 3–5 May 2009 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Malek Jaziri 6–3, 7–67–3
Win 4–5 Sep 2012 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Chen Ti 5–7, 7–68–6, 6–2
Win 5–5 Sep 2013 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Saketh Myneni 6–4, 6–1

Doubles: 19 (12–7)

edit
ATP Challenger (2–1)
ITF Futures (10–6)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jun 2001 Marrakech, Morocco Futures Clay   Jalal Chafai   Kane Dewhurst
  David McNamara
7–5, 4–6, 7–6(10–8)
Win 2–0 Nov 2004 Bangkok, Thailand Futures Hard   Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya   Minh Le
  Hiroyasu Sato
2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Win 3–0 Dec 2005 Menzah, Tunisia Futures Hard   Walid Jallali   Pawel Dilaj
  Robert Godlewski
6–2, 6–4
Loss 3–1 May 2006 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Ravi-Shankar Pathanjali   Ralph Grambow
  Philipp Marx
6–4, 6–7(5–7), 3–6
Loss 3–2 May 2007 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Greg Jones   Aisam Qureshi
  Purav Raja
6–2, 5–7, 2–6
Win 4–2 Jun 2007 Kraków, Poland Futures Clay   Kalle Flygt   Johan Brunström
  Robert Gustafsson
6–4, 6–7(6–8), 6–4
Win 5–2 Jun 2007 Koszalin, Poland Futures Clay   Johan Brunström   Mateusz Kowalczyk
  Grzegorz Panfil
6–3, 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5)
Win 6–2 Jun 2007 Oslo, Norway Futures Clay   Ervin Eleskovic   Fabio Colangelo
  Francesco Zacchia
7–6(7–5), 6–4
Win 7–2 Jul 2007 Togliatti, Russia Challenger Hard   Johan Brunström   Ivan Cerović
  Pierrick Ysern
7–6(7–4), 4–6, [13–11]
Win 8–2 Aug 2007 Tampere, Finland Challenger Hard   Johan Brunström   Jukka Kohtamäki
  Mika Purho
6–2, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 8–3 May 2008 New Delhi, India Challenger Hard   Illya Marchenko   Colin Ebelthite
  Sam Groth
6–2, 6–7(5–7), [8–10]
Win 9–2 May 2008 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Johan Örtegren   Rohan Gajjar
  Ken Skupski
6–4, 3–6, [10–7]
Loss 9–3 Jul 2007 Modena, Italy Futures Clay   Stéphane Robert   Guillermo Hormazábal
  Hans Podlipnik-Castillo
3–6, 2–6
Win 10–3 Nov 2008 Kish Island, Iran Futures Clay   Benjamin Balleret   Mattia Livraghi
  Marco Simoni
6–1, 6–2
Loss 10–4 Nov 2008 Kish Island, Iran Futures Clay   Benjamin Balleret   Alexander Satschko
  Marc-Andre Stratling
2–6, 6–1, [4–10]
Win 11–4 Sep 2012 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Mikhail Vasiliev   Alessandro Bega
  Jan Blecha
3–6, 7–6(7–5), [10–7]
Loss 11–5 Oct 2012 Meshref, Kuwait Futures Hard   Mikhail Vasiliev   Lewis Burton
  Ruan Roelofse
6–7(5–7), 6–7(2–7)
Loss 11–6 Oct 2012 Doha, Qatar Futures Hard   Benjamin Balleret   Marko Danis
  Marek Semjan
5–7, 6–7(2–7)
Win 12–6 Aug 2014 Innsbruck, Austria Futures Clay   Abdullah Maqdes   Andrea Basso
  Alessandro Ceppellini
6–0, 6–3
Loss 12–7 Jun 2015 Jounieh, Lebanon Futures Clay   Abdullah Maqdes   Ivo Klec
  Adrian Sikora
4–6, 7–6(7–5), [6–10]

References

edit
  1. ^ "ATP Player Profile". Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
  2. ^ "Kuwait tennis rankings". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  3. ^ "2006 Dubai result". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  4. ^ "A Rather Tough Second Round for Roger".
  5. ^ "Agassi loses in Dubai; Federer also struggles".
  6. ^ "Federer breaks Connors' record streak".
  7. ^ "Djokovic advances to 2nd round in Dubai". Associated Press. Feb 24, 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  8. ^ "Davis Cup – Team Biography: Kuwait".
  9. ^ "Davis Cup – Players: Mohammad GHAREEB".
edit