When Fatma Al Nabhani retired from tennis five years ago, she knew she wanted to stay connected to the sport but didn’t know exactly how.
The Omani trailblazer started playing tennis at four and was the first professional women’s tennis player to emerge from the Gulf. She peaked at 362 in the world rankings when she was just 19 and flew the flag for the Arab region at prestigious WTA tournaments like Dubai and Doha.
Over the past few years, Al Nabhani swapped her racquet for a paddle, and competed sporadically on the padel circuit, reaching a career-high ranking of 121.
But then came an opportunity which has allowed her to reconnect with her first love of tennis.
The WTA approached her regarding the tour’s Coach Inclusion Programme, which made its Middle East debut in Riyadh last November.
The programme aims to attract and develop female tennis coaches across the globe, arming them with the tools, knowledge and experience that can help them be successful at the professional level.
When the tour contacted Al Nabhani as a suitable candidate, she jumped at the chance.
“I knew that I would always be part of tennis even after I quit. So this was really a great opportunity and I just went with it,” Al Nabhani told The National.
Al Nabhani was one of five Arab women who took part in the programme, which was led by former top-10 player Kathy Rinaldi, the USTA Player Development's head of women's tennis. Working alongside Rinaldi is Tunisian Issam Jellali, the coach of three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur and Turkish up-and-comer Zeynep Sonmez.
The programme was split over three phases, starting with in-person workshops in Riyadh last November, held on the sidelines of the WTA Finals. Phase two featured virtual educational sessions, and phase three involved on-site shadowing at WTA events held in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai.
At the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last month, the five participants shadowed Jellali as he coached Sonmez at the WTA 1000-level tournament and Rinaldi, who was part of Iva Jovic’s team.
The five women got to witness first hand the dynamic between a WTA player and a professional coach and immersed themselves in the tour environment, getting a taste of what it would be like coaching at this elite level.
“This week was really unforgettable. I will never forget these days and this amazing opportunity, being around these lovely people. These players that we could only watch on TV and now seeing them up close,” said Soulayma El Benna, a Tunisian who is the head coach at OTAR club in Bahrain.
“Being with the team of coach Issam or captain Kathy, with Zeynep and Iva, they gave us an important window into their life. And we were really with them, we saw their routine, their daily training, how they prepare off-court, on-court. And also the coaches didn't give up on us. They were giving us technical stuff, how they were coaching their players on-court. And feedback after every session. We really gave them also a hard time, we wanted to learn a lot about everything.
“And really, they did their best with us. And also being with the players in their party, on-court, it's a very nice experience that we hope one day we can give it to the next generation also.”
Two more Tunisian coaches graduated from the programme – sisters Asma and Ameni Bouyahia, who work for the Saudi Tennis Federation, as well as Dubai-based Lebanese Nancy Karaky.
Asma works with all age groups in Saudi Arabia and is excited to get back to her students to implement everything she learnt.
“I love tennis and I love sharing my experience and my passion with young kids, and I really care about trying to elevate the level of tennis in the Arab region,” she said.
“I learnt so much about how to deal with the players, how to be more efficient in my coaching. Training can be short but highly effective. I saw how coaches just say a few simple words to their players, unlike us, we share so much information at once.
“I also noticed how important it is for a player’s entourage to remain composed and not get too animated. I remember my dad used to look so angry watching me play. These small things make a big difference.”
Indeed, the devil is always in the details. Al Nabhani had a long professional tennis career but she says it’s very different looking at things from a coach’s perspective.
“As a player, I always wanted the coach to understand me, Fatma, as a player, what I really need, how to approach me. From person to person, it's completely different,” explained the 34-year-old Omani.
“So for you to be a coach, it’s about how to adapt with each player and what they need and how they can receive the information from you because each player is different. So, I really learned a lot from that aspect and hopefully I could do something with it one day.”
Al Nabhani acknowledges that only a few Arab players have made a successful transition from the juniors to the pros in tennis and she wants to see that number grow.
“We really need to see more because we know that we have the talents, but it's just about what it takes to reach that level.”
Al Nabhani heaped praise on both Jellali and Rinaldi, who were involved with the programme from start to finish.
“Issam is an amazing coach. He really pays attention to the little details in each player. He's a good, positive, and a tough coach at the same time, which I like,” she said.
“There are different players. Some players, they like tough coaches. Some players, for example, they want a coach all the time to be positive with them. Issam is a straightforward person, and me, as a player, I love that. Of course, he would adapt to each different personalities of players, but Issam, masha’Allah, he's such an inspiration for all of us now, coaches in the Middle East, given where he has reached, what he has done with Ons, what he's going to do now with Zeynep.
“So, seeing him coach and learning from him, I was like, ‘I wish I had you as my coach one day’,” she added with a laugh.
For Ameni, the programme was a continuation of her education in her budding career as a tennis coach.
Focusing on one’s own strengths before exploiting an opponent’s weakness is something she picked up from Jellali and Rinaldi in Dubai, and another is “how in tune the coaches are to their players, how much they understand them, and can sense how they feel, and how much they respect them”.
The whole experience further sparked her desire to become a coach at that level.
“It’s my dream. I see myself in the future as a coach to a professional player; it’s a goal I set for myself from a very young age,” said Ameni.
“I started playing tennis at four years old but I got to a point where there was little support to pursue a professional career. My education led me to a career in coaching and now I’m even more motivated to achieve my goal of guiding a player to join the WTA Tour.”
Back in 2017, when the WTA formalised its coach registration system, there were less than a handful of women employed as coaches by WTA players. In 2021, fewer than four per cent of the credentialled coaches at WTA events were women.
These bleak numbers were the catalyst for the creation of the WTA Coach Inclusion Program, which officially launched in North America in 2021 before spreading to different parts of the world.
“The WTA Women’s Coaching Inclusion Programme is important because it actively creates pathways for more women to lead at the highest levels of tennis,” said Rinaldi, who is a coach educator and ambassador for the programme.
“By investing in education, mentorship, and real opportunities, the programme doesn’t just open doors – it reshapes the future of coaching, ensuring the sport benefits from broader representation, stronger leadership, and role models who inspire the next generation.
“Spending time with this incredible group of women as they graduated from the WTA Women’s Coaching Inclusion Program [in Dubai] was truly inspiring. Their passion, strength, growth mindset and commitment to growing as leaders in our sport gives me so much confidence in the future of coaching.”
