'Sometimes a loss is better than win'

Dubai: Oman's Fatma Al Nabhani is finding the pressures of shouldering Gulf women's tennis aspirations a bit too much to handle.

"It scares me sometimes to think that I am carrying the responsibility of an entire region," Al Nabhani told Gulf News.

Al Nabhani, who turns 16 in May this year, has been a wild card entrant at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open for the past two years. She has not progressed past the first round of the qualifiers on both occasions though.

In her opening qualifying match on Saturday, Al Nabhani went down in straight sets 6-1, 6-0 against former world number 18 Anne Kremer of Luxembourg.

Though losing for the second successive time in as many years, the Omani girl felt she had a lot to learn. "Sometimes a loss is much better than winning," she said. "It takes a long time for any player to start winning. It is an experience each time you go out on court," she added.

These losses have helped the teenager to walk away wiser in her quest to carry the game forward in this region. "It is good what they are doing for women's tennis in the Gulf, particularly in the UAE and Qatar."