When Carlos Alcaraz was winning $3.5 million for lifting the Wimbledon trophy, Hady Habib was more than 5,000km away, collecting a meagre $1,350 at a low-level tournament in Canada.
Two weeks on, the 25-year-old from Lebanon now finds himself taking on the world number three in the first round at the Olympics.
“I was in shock when I heard,” the Texas-born player told AFP.
“Hopefully I can inspire lots of people in Lebanon.”
Habib, ranked a lowly 275 in the world, was only scheduled to play doubles at the Olympics alongside Benjamin Hassan.
However, following a series of injury pullouts, he moved into the singles draw as an alternate.
“The day after that, I’m drawn to be playing Carlos Alcaraz. So this has been an interesting five days for me.”
He added: “I was at the practice courts when I got the email. All happened so fast. Life can just change in an instant. You could say it’s a fairytale.”
Habib’s career has been spent on the second-tier circuit since he turned pro in 2021 after studying at university in Texas.
Now he will be the first man from Lebanon to represent his country in tennis at the Olympic Games.
The whole experience has left him starstruck.
“The first day I arrived, I was walking around a little bit lost just opening a door and going in somewhere.
“When I walked in the gym the first day, I saw Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and I was just, ‘Wow, this has to be a dream. Someone wake me up’.”
Australia’s Matthew Ebden, who hasn’t played a singles match for two years, was another to benefit from being granted an alternate spot when a gap in the draw opened up.
His reward? A clash with top seed and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic who has enjoyed plenty of success at Roland Garros with three French Open titles.
“They asked if I would be keen, and I thought, ‘Hey, I would love the opportunity to play singles at the Olympics and officially retire my singles career’,” said the 36-year-old who no longer has a singles ranking.
“I’ve played Andy Murray many times, Rafa Nadal a few times, Roger Federer as well, but I never got to play Novak in singles, which I regretted a bit,” added Ebden.
“But now this is magically coming about to play him in singles on Court Philippe Chatrier, as my last singles match. It’ll be fun.”
Ebden, who won the doubles with India’s Rohan Bopanna at the Australian Open in January, is also entered in men’s doubles with John Peers in Paris and Ellen Perez in mixed.
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