Jaziri Flies The Flag For Tunisia In Career-Best Season

After more than a decade on tour, Malek Jaziri is in the best form of his career and continuing to break ground for tennis in Tunisia.

The 32-year-old opened this year with a combined 1-7 record at ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events, but has dramatically turned his season around since then. He prevailed this March at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Guadalajara, Mexico, then won another $100,000 tournament in April in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe. Jaziri achieved a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking that same month of No. 64.

He’s now the top seed this week at the $50,000 ATP Challenger event in Furth, Germany. Jaziri opened his quest for a third ATP Challenger Tour title this year by defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in the opening round.

“My best results in Challengers this year have been on hard courts, but I’ve had good results on clay as well,” said Jaziri. “Furth is a good tournament for me because they treat the players very well here. I hope to do well this week.”

Jaziri has remained the top-ranked tennis player in Tunisia for eight years and has been a fixture on its Davis Cup team since 2000. He said that being the only Tunisian to currently compete on either the ATP World Tour or ATP Challenger Tour has given him extra motivation to produce big results.

“I’m proud to play for Tunisia and be the top player in my country,” he said. “It’s an honour for me and also a result of very hard work on and off the court.”

Despite having his best year on tour so far, Jaziri still has much loftier aspirations that he’s still continuing to work towards.

“My goal is to be ranked in the Top 10,” he said. “And why not? I want to win a Grand Slam as well.”