Like Houston Rockets’ Hakeem Olajuwon, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur Wimbledon Cinderella Accomplishment is an Elixir for Global Rejuvenation in an Unusual Era threatened by Toxic Disinformation
Like Houston Rockets’ Hakeem Olajuwon, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur Wimbledon Cinderella Accomplishment is an Elixir for Global Rejuvenation in an Unusual Era threatened by Toxic Disinformation
By Ben Edokpayi, Sports Reporter ©
Dixon, Calif: Quite remarkable that a day after Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur reached her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon (definitely a source of joy for tennis purists) tragic news about the assasination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe whipsawed a troubled world into more absurd and extremely obnoxious and distasteful trauma.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/interactive/2022/photos-japan-shinzo-abe-shot/
As details emerge about the terrible assasination of Abe, a visionary leader and friend of America, I think it is appropriate to dwell instead on the importance of Jabeur’s triumph at the oldest tennis tournament in the world, played at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877, as a source of healing from the tragedy in Nara, Japan.
From Dixon to Damascus and beyond it is certainly quite impressive and noteworthy that 27 year old Jabeur who is married to Karim Kamoun is the first African woman of Arab extraction to earn a berth in the finals of this marquee tennis tournament.
Jabeur reached her first grand slam final with a 6–2, 3–6, 6–1 win over West German Tatjana Maria, while Elena Rybakina overwhelmed Constanta, Romania’s Simona Halep for the finals played Saturday.
Whether she wins or not (The game was played before Dixon Tribune’s Sunday edition went to bed) versus 23 year old Russian-born Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina, Ons Jabeur is certainly an exceptional trailblazer in a special assemblage of stars that includes names such as Arthur Ashe, and Althea Gibson, the first African American woman to win a championship at London’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Hakeem Olajuwon the first American with Nigerian extraction to win an NBA title and of course his compatriot Nduka Odizor, the first man from the Motherland to advance farthest at Wimbledon.
After his achievement, Odizor, who is the President of Houston-based Anointed Holdings company earned the epithet “The Duke of Wimbledon.”
Of course Arthur Ashe’s accomplishment tops them all.
After Gibson won Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard, 6–3, 6–2 in ’57 ( She toured the world with the Harlem Globetrotters in ’60) Arthur Ashe in ’75 became the first African American man to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, when he defeated Jimmy Connors, John MacEnroe’s arch-rival.
The Connors–McEnroe rivalry was an epic tennis rivalry between Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe, who played 34 times between ’77 and ’91. Their head-to-head encounter was 20–14, in favor of MacEnroe.
Between ’84 ( My first year as a journalist and a year after his epic performance in London) and ’88, I interviewed Odizor at the Ogbe Hard Court in the Edo State Capital Benin City, Nigeria and Lord Rumens Tennis Classic at the Tafawa Balewa Square in that Nation’s Financial capital. In Nigeria he also featured at the Ogun and Kaduna Tennis Classics, before the tournaments were phased out.
“In June 1983, Nduka Odizor was a stage shy of the quarterfinals when he lost to Chris Lewis of New Zealand 6–1, 6–3, 6–3. The Duke of Wimbledon, as he is fondly called, eased off the challenges of Loic Courteau of France in the third round, seven-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe’s doubles partner Peter Fleming of USA in the second round, and Guillermo Vilas of Buenos, Aires Argentina in the first round.”
I have interviewed Olajuwon thrice as well in Los Angeles versus Magic Johnson’s Lakers, in Houston when they played Patrick Ewing’s New York Knickerbockers and in 1993 when they played the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, which at that time was anchored on the robust play of Run TMC, the high-scoring trio of Warriors’ team mates Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. https://www.nba.com/
Another remarkable first?
I also met and briefly chatted at a book-signing event with Kareem Abdul Jabar, the first African-American Moslem to win an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers. We met at the 2007 Las Vegas Conference of the National Association of Black Journalists where Senators Barack Obama and Hilarry Clinton were the featured speakers. My report of that NABJ conference published in the September 9, 2007 edition of The Vacaville Reporter where I was an editor is titled Obama, Clinton Up Close.
With such a remarkable black precedent it will be an honor to interview Ons Jabeur at Flushing Meadows.
https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments
Hopefully when we meet and just like an exclusive feature about Hakeem Olajuwon’s trail to NBA greatness we can talk about Ons Jabeur’s rich Tunisian roots.
Indeed I was one of the first journalists to chronicle Hakeem Olajuwon’s rise to NBA fame. In 1987, I and Louisa Aguiyi-Ironsi, a fellow journalist whose father was Nigeria’s first military leader, teamed up for an exclusive report on the meteoric rise of Akeem Olajuwon to the top of the NBA.
I anchored the story from Lagos, Nigeria’s financial capital while Louisa traveled to Houston to interview Akeem and others for our report, which was for the Nigerian audience, at the time, but which I am sure everyone can relate to now.
Living in the same neighborhood in Shomolu, Lagos down the road from Olajuwon’s elder brother Yemi Kaka gave me an inside track on this story which made the cover of a top publication. This cover story was to be the beginning of a friendship with Olajuwon that included coverage of the Rocket’s games in Oakland, Los Angeles and Houston, as well as a proposal to co-author Olajuwon’s biography, which was eventually written by Curry Kirkpatrick of Sports Illustrated.
Covering Olajuwon also afforded me the opportunity to meet up close many of the NBA’s big stars of the 90’s including Earvin Magic Johnson, Kevin Johnson, former mayor of Sacramento, Denver Nuggets’ Dikembe Mutombo, the late Manute Bol from Sudan, Kenny (the Jet) Smith, now a broadcaster with Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal on TNT, Mario Elie, Sam Cassell and Vernon Maxwell.
I met and interviewed some of these players in the Golden State Warriors locker room for a 1993 article for the Fairfield Daily Republic Newspaper.
It was at the ’93 interview for the DR that Hakeem confirmed how he became known as “The Dream” He recalled that he acquired it in his freshman year in the University, when during practice, he had dribbled a ball from one end of the court to the other and dunked it through the hoops with such ease, that his coach remarked that he had made the play “look like a dream.”
The name rhymed with Akeem and stuck till this day. Other sobriquets might as well include “Akeem the scheme”, and “Akeem the Miracleman.” He may well have been nick-named the Dream for another reason — the account of his success which tells like a fairy tale and which started with dreaming as a child, that he would one day go to America. Olajuwon has lived beyond that dream and its realization has somehow opened sesame for many other Nigerians and Africans to play basketball on college teams or in the NBA.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield ( Who was on America’s team with Hakeem Olajuwon that attended the 2015 Inauguration of the Nigerian Leader) a similar feature on Ons Jabeur will certainly be good for journalism, America and the World.
Captions.
1.The Dixon Tribune’s Sports Reporter Seen With Hakeem Olajuwon in the Golden State Warriors Locker room where he also spoke with Kenny Smith, Sam Cassell and Vernon Maxwell. Charles Barkley joined the team in ’96 from the Phoenix Suns. Nicknamed “the Dream”, Hakeem played center in the NBA for the Houston Rockets. He led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. Photo By Ben Edokpayi
2. In 2015 Hakeem Olajuwon Traveled with A State Department Delegation for Nigeria’s Presidential inauguration ceremony. The team included UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and former Secretary of State John Kerry. In June The Ambassador tested Positive for the Coronavirus and is fully recovered. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3533407-un-ambassador-tests-positive-for-covid-19/
This is the lead sports feature in the July 10 edition of Dixon Tribune, the newspaper of record for the city of Dixon, Calif.
