Ismail El Shafei on arvau

Wikipedia / Ismail El Shafei

Ismail El Shafei () (born 15 November 1947) is an Egyptian former professional tennis player and president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the International Tennis Federation and is chairman of the ITF Junior Circuit. He won six career singles titles and reached eleven finals. In doubles, he won nine career titles.

Career

El Shafei played his first tournament in March 1962 at the Egyptian Championships losing in straight sets to Italian player Giuseppe Merlo in the round of 32. He reached his first tournament final in Ostordorf, West Germany in 1963 before losing to Harald Elschenbroich. In 1964, he won the boys' singles tournament at Wimbledon. He won his first senior's tournament in San Jose, Costa Rica in January 1966. He won the Egyptian Open in Cairo three times (1969, 1974–1974). An adaptable player, he competed on all surfaces, (grass, clay, hardcourt, and carpet). El Shafei is the only Egyptian player to make the top 40 in Grand Prix/ATP ranking history. He is one of only four players to beat Björn Borg at Wimbledon, knocking him out in the third round in 1974 (the other three were John McEnroe, Roger Taylor and Arthur Ashe.) He reached his last professional singles final (exhibition) at the Cairo Invitational losing to Bjorn Borg in two sets in December 1979 and played his last singles tournament in June 1982 at the Bristol Open losing to then South African player Johan Kriek, he retired in 1983.

Post-playing career

Following his playing career El Shafei remained involved in tennis in an administrative role: he was elected president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation on two occasions (1994–96 and 2005–08). In 1998, he was elected to the board of directors of the International Tennis Federation until 2001. He would serve a second term as director of the ITF (2003–2013). In September 2015, he was elected for a third term as a director and is currently chairman of coaching and chairman of the juniors circuit.

Personal

He was educated at Cairo University and is the son of Adli El Shafei and father of Adli El Shafei II.

Career finals

Singles: 17 (6 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 1963	Ostordorf, West Germany	Clay	Harald Elschenbroich	0–6, 0–6
Win	1–1	Jan 1966	San José, Costa Rica	Clay	Gary Penberthy	6–2, 6–2, 6–4
Loss	1–2	Jan 1967	Kalkutta, India	Grass	Alex Metreveli	3–6, 6–8, 4–6
Loss	1–3	Mar 1967	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Jan-Erik Lundqvist	4–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win	2–3	Jan 1968	Bremen, West Germany	Hard (i)	Daniel Contet	6–2, 6–2, 9–7
Loss	2–4	Mar 1968	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Milan Holeček	6–4, 3–6, 1–6, 2–6
Loss	2–5	Mar 1968	Le Touquet, France	Clay	François Jauffret	1–6, 2–6, 3–6
Loss	2–6	Feb 1969	Salisbury, U.S.	Hard (i)	Stan Smith	3–6, 8–6, 4–6, 4–6
Win	3–6	Mar 1969	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	István Gulyás	6–2, 6–2, 9–7
Loss	3–7	Mar 1969	Alexandria, Egypt	Clay	István Gulyás	1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 5–7
Loss	3–8	Oct 1969	Perth, UK	Carpet (i)	Mark Cox	6–3, 12–14, 1–6
Loss	3–9	Mar 1971	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Alex Metreveli	6–8, 9–7, 4–6
Win	4–9	Mar 1973	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Patrick Proisy	6–4, 6–8, 6–3, 6–3
Win	5–9	Mar 1974	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	François Jauffret	6–0, 4–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win	6–9	Nov 1974	Manila, Philippines	Hard	Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	7–6, 6–1
Loss	6–10	Aug 1975	Brummana, Lebanon	Clay	Nikola Pilić	6–7, 6–3, 6–7, 7–6, 4–6
Loss	6–11	Nov 1977	Taipei, Taiwan	Hard (i)	Tim Gullikson	7–6, 5–7, 6–7, 4–6

Doubles (9 titles, 18 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 1970	Boston, US	Hard	Torben Ulrich	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	1–6, 6–7
Loss	0–2	Sep 1972	Los Angeles, US	Hard	Brian Fairlie	Pancho Gonzales Jimmy Connors	3–6, 6–4, 6–7
Loss	0–3	Oct 1972	Alamo WCT, US	Hard	Brian Fairlie	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–7, 4–6
Loss	0–4	Nov 1972	Gothenburg, Sweden	Carpet (i)	Brian Fairlie	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	2–6, 6–7
Loss	0–5	Mar 1973	Chicago, US	Carpet (i)	Brian Fairlie	Ken Rosewall Fred Stolle	7–6, 4–6, 2–6
Loss	0–6	Apr 1973	Cleveland, US	Carpet (i)	Brian Fairlie	Ken Rosewall Fred Stolle	2–6, 3–6
Loss	0–7	Aug 1973	Tanglewood, U.S.	Clay	Brian Fairlie	Bob Carmichael Frew McMillan	3–6, 4–6
Win	1–7	Apr 1974	St. Louis, U.S.	Clay	Brian Fairlie	Geoff Masters Ross Case	7–6, 6–7, 7–6
Win	2–7	Oct 1974	Christchurch, New Zealand	N/A	Roscoe Tanner	Syd Ball Ray Ruffels	w/o
Win	3–7	Nov 1974	Jakarta, Indonesia	Hard	Roscoe Tanner	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	7–5, 6–3
Loss	3–8	Jan 1975	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Frew McMillan	Dick Crealy Ray Ruffels	4–6, 3–6
Loss	3–9	Apr 1975	Charlotte, US	Clay	Brian Fairlie	Patricio Cornejo Jaime Fillol	3–6, 7–5, 4–6
Loss	3–10	Mar 1976	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Brian Fairlie	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 6–7
Loss	3–11	Oct 1976	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Brian Fairlie	Syd Ball Kim Warwick	4–6, 4–6
Win	4–11	Oct 1976	Sydney, Australia	Hard (i)	Brian Fairlie	Syd Ball Kim Warwick	7–5, 6–7, 7–6
Loss	4–12	Oct 1976	Perth, Australia	Hard	Bob Carmichael	Dick Stockton Roscoe Tanner	7–6, 1–6, 2–6
Loss	4–13	Nov 1976	Tokyo, Japan	Clay	Brian Fairlie	Bob Carmichael Ken Rosewall	4–6, 4–6
Win	5–13	Jul 1977	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Brian Fairlie	Tim Gullikson Tom Gullikson	6–7, 6–3, 7–6
Win	6–13	Mar 1978	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Brian Fairlie	Lito Álvarez George Hardie	6–3, 7–5, 6–2
Loss	6–14	Jul 1978	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	Brian Fairlie	Gene Mayer Raúl Ramírez	3–6, 3–6
Loss	6–15	Aug 1978	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Brian Fairlie	Erik van Dillen Dick Stockton	6–7, 3–6
Loss	6–16	Mar 1979	Lagos, Nigeria	Hard	Peter Feigl	Joel Bailey Bruce Kleege	4–6, 7–6, 3–6
Loss	6–17	Sep 1979	Palermo, Italy	Clay	John Feaver	Peter McNamara Paul McNamee	5–7, 6–7
Win	7–17	Mar 1980	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Tom Okker	Christophe Freyss Bernard Fritz	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Win	8–17	Jul 1980	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Colin Dowdeswell	Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick	6–4, 6–4
Win	9–17	Mar 1981	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	Paolo Bertolucci Gianni Ocleppo	6–7, 6–3, 6–1
Loss	9–18	Dec 1981	Sofia, Bulgaria	Carpet (i)	Rick Meyer	Thomas Emmrich Jiří Granát	6–7, 6–2, 4–6