Dubai: Egyptian husband and wife duo Ali Farag and Nour Al Tayeb both made it through to the semi-finals of the PSA World Series Finals on Thursday and immediately credited each other for their success.
When one stepped on court, the other would ensure active support in the spouses’ corner, offering timely pep talks during intervals.
“It’s beyond helpful,” said Farag, who finished second in Group B of the men’s tournament, after winning a do-or-die last group stage encounter over friend and fellow Egyptian Karim Abdul Jawad 2-0 (11-5, 11-5) at Emirates Golf Club on Thursday.
“She knows me inside out and she knows the game, so it’s always good to have her in my corner.
“We consider ourselves very lucky because we travel 12 or 13 times a year and you don’t really want to be leaving your wife back home.
“We are lucky to be doing the same thing together, she comes to most tournaments with me where men’s and women’s events are held together, so we travel a lot with each other and it’s great for both of us.”
Their support for one another paid off dividends at the US Open in October when they became the first married couple in sporting history to win the same major singles title on the same day.
“It was the second best day of our lives after our wedding,” said Al Tayeb, who married Farag in 2016.
“We’ve been travelling together and supporting each other for the past two years since we’ve been married, it gives us support and me a lot of support to look at him in between rallies, it helps a lot.
“Whether we’re both doing well or not it doesn’t matter, he understands a lot about the game and helps me a lot in matches,” added Al Tayeb, who finished second in Group A of the women’s tournament, after surviving an equally as pivotal third group match against New Zealand’s Joelle King 2-1 (7-11, 11-7, 13-11) where both were on match ball in the dramatic last game.
“Watching her is far more nerve wracking than playing myself,” said Farag. “I used to make fun of my parents when I was younger about how tense they got when I was playing, I’m not even that tense on court.
“But now I understand what it’s like to be in their seat. It’s definitely much harder, I guess the adrenaline when you’re in there takes your mind off things, but when you’re watching, you’re so tense.
“Thankfully this season she didn’t make me that stressed out, she’s been playing superbly well.”
Nour and Ali aren’t the only married couple playing in Dubai this week. Fellow Egyptians Raneem Al Welily and Tarek Momen married in 2014 but only Raneem has made it to this weekend’s semis.
RESULTS - THURSDAY
Camille Serme 2-0 Laura Massaro: 11-7, 11-5
Simon Rosner 2-0 Gregory Gaultier: 11-8, 12-10
Raneem Al Welily 2-0 Sarah-Jane Perry: 11-6, 11-9
Ali Farag 2-0 Karim Abdul Jawad: 11-5, 11-5
Nour Al Sherbini 2-0 Nouran Gohar: 11-5, 11-5
Nick Matthew 2-0 Mohammad Al Shorbagy: 11-6, 11-6
Nour Al Tayeb 2-1 Joelle King: 7-11, 11-7, 13-11
Tarek Momen 2-1 Miguel Angel Rodriguez: 11-5, 8-11, 11-8
