“I was 17 years old when I defeated Rafael Nadal, I was the only junior he lost to.” Lamine Ouahab is an Algerian professional tennis player who is currently representing Morocco in the African Games 2019.
In 2013, Lamine Ouahab decided to switch sides and announced that from 2014, he would compete for Morocco after representing Algeria from the beginning of his career. The sudden change of nationalities was complicated for the player who went through many hardships before being able to play for Morocco.
After putting all his effort into raising the Algerian flag in tennis tournaments for more than 10 years, Lamine Ouahab was confronted by a lack of faith and deception from his national federation, who gave up on him. He declares: “I was one of the best junior players in the world, they made promises they didn’t keep. I was already committed to personal coaches and physical trainers. I had good results then suddenly, the Algerian Tennis Federation, along with other ministries, gave up on me. I was left out, on my own, facing financial debts of approximatively 40,000 euros.”
The former Algerian player affirms that the Algerian federation didn’t know how to manage his career. Lamine Ouahabi spent about seven years with no team to back him up. That period gave him time to gain some perspective and to find his own way as he reveals: “As soon as I stepped away, I reached the 100th place and the final table of the Australian Open, despite the debts and the hardships that got in the way.”
While Lamine Ouahab was playing for Algeria, he created a strong bond with Moroccan tennis players such as Mehdi Tahiri, Mounir Laaraj and Rabie Chaki. He says: “I was always hanging out with the Moroccan players. We used to train together in Spain. And since I was always the only Algerian player, I always used to hang out with the Moroccan team.”
The former Algerian tennis player won three gold medals and one silver medal for Algeria. While he was playing for Algeria, Lamine used to go to Morocco to compete and also train in between tournaments. His connection to the Cherifian Kingdom solidified in 2008 after he married his Moroccan wife and that’s when Lamine started to go to Morocco even more for both professional and personal reasons which led to him moving there in 2010.
In 2013, Lamine Ouahabi decided to apply for Moroccan nationality. “Thanks to a Royal Decree of the Moroccan King Mohamed VI, I was granted nationality by the end of 2013. Getting Moroccan citizenship was really meaningful to me. Representing Morocco was like a dream come true,” he says.
The first time Lamine took part in a tournament as a Moroccan player was last year at the Mediterranean Games of 2018 in Spain where he won the gold medal for Morocco. He says that it was an exceptional experience because he got a gold the very first time he competed for Morocco.
Lamine adds: “For me it was something important, something that I felt. I knew that Morocco needed a tennis player like me and at the same time I needed the support Morocco was offering. My dream is to go to the Olympic Games and win a gold medal for Morocco,”he told the AIPS
As for the political dimension of his decision, Lamine Ouahab claims that he was never into politics or into the rivalry between the two neighbors: “For me, it was more about how I felt while playing for both teams each in their own right.”
