Who is world No 275 Hady Habib, who will face Carlos Alcaraz in Paris? American-born Lebanese jokes about ‘looking lost’
The Olympics has a long history of interesting early match-ups in the tennis tournament with relatively unknown players taking on some of the biggest stars in the sport.
One such encounter will take place at the 2024 Paris Games as four-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz will face Hady Habib in the first round at Roland Garros.
World No 3 Alcaraz qualified for the Olympics through his ATP Ranking as the top 56 players in the world are given automatic entry while Habib was a late, late entry.
Habib was ranked outside the top 200 when the cutoff for the Olympics was made and wasn’t set to compete in Paris, but the Lebanon Tennis Federation then received a universality place – a wildcard spot for athletes from underrepresented National Olympic Committees.
The entry in the singles draw went to Benjamin Hassan – who was at No 146 at the time of the cutoff – while Habib was set to join his compatriot in the doubles.
But two days before the main draw was due to take place, Habib received another welcome surprise as he was promoted into the singles draw following world No 7 Hubert Hurkacz’s withdrawal due to injury.
Habib was the first alternate and then the big bombshell came on Thursday as he landed reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz in the opener.
“I got caught by surprise. I was just super happy and proud to be able to say I’m an Olympian,” he told The National.
He added: “It’s honestly a dream come true.”
So who is Hady Habib?
The 25-year-old Habib was born in Houston, Texas, the United States, and he studied Sports Management at Texas A&M University. He competed on the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) circuit for Texas A&M University from 2016 to 2020.
He started representing Lebanon in the Davis Cup in 2015 and has spent his career competing at the ITF’s Futures and Challengers events.
Habib has won 10 ITF/World Tennis Tour singles titles while he reached his maiden ATP Challenger Tour final in May this year as he finished runner-up to Alejo Lingua Lavallén at the Santos Brasil Tennis Cup.
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He reached a career-best of No 259 in the ATP Rankings on the back of that run, but has slipped back to No 275 in recent weeks.
The Lebanese player is yet to make the main draw of an ATP Tour event or a Grand Slam with his best result a defeat in the qualifiers of the Dubai Tennis Championships in 2022.
But now he finds himself on the verge of competing on the famous Roland Garros clay and it is the stuff of dreams.
“It’s been incredible. Being in the same facility as all these great players, the legends basically of the sport,” he told The National. “I’m doing my training and I walk in first day in the gym, I see like, Novak [Djokovic], Rafa [Nadal], [Andy] Murray … all these legends just roaming around, it’s an unbelievable experience, it was surreal.
“This is my first time in Roland Garros. It’s a bit funny because everyone knows their way around and I’m just like walking around trying to figure out where everything is. People are probably just looking at me and trying to find out, what’s this guy doing here, he looks lost. It’s been amazing.”
