ALGIERS, April 10, 2021 – It all started in a café located in the suburbs of Paris. Hassen Guedioura used to visit it frequently to conduct some of his interviews. When the owner of the bar saw him meeting with big athletes on the location, he told him: “You should meet my cousin Ines, she plays tennis.” After almost a year, the two finally met.
Ines is Ines Ibbou, the Algerian tennis player that rocked the world with her viral answer to tennis star Dominic Thiem, who had said that no tennis player would starve because of the pandemic. When she met Guedioura for the first time, she was commuting three-four hours a day just to practice tennis and leaving in a very dangerous area of the outskirts of Paris.
The video in which he tells her amazing story —produced by Guedioura— earned the first place in the AIPS Sport Media Awards Short Video category this year. Both, Guedioura and Ibbou, talk to AIPS about their delight after the victory. The reality of the low-ranked tennis players is miles away from the fans’ perception, and this video became viral as the symbol of sacrifice against all odds that many athletes face.
Hassen, when did the idea of the letter start? How was the video plotted?
In early 2020 and by the start of the pandemic, Dominic Thiem made a controversial statement marginalizing other tennis players who were not as lucky as him. It was a tough observation from him because pro players like him have a big responsibility of being role models to others, in response; Ines wrote an open letter addressed to him and showed it to us, we were very touched by the letter and decided to make a video, luckily we already had the audio written by Ines and had most of the video clips taken in the past years during training or tours, so we put everything together and came up with the video. After it was posted on YouTube, it created a big international buzz and we had a storm of global coverage with interviews from The New York Times to The Fiji Times.
I think it is unfair to not consider the pain and sacrifice of other athletes without even knowing what they go through, on the other hand, with almost over a year of sports being on pause, the situation was very hard for Ines and many others, no tournaments means no money, and no means to survive, some athletes starting from Novak Djokovic helped during the pandemic by creating a relief fund to support other players.
Have your heard from Dominic after this video?
Not really, no. But he mentioned on an interview in an Austrian newspaper that he watched the video but did not finish it, and that this video should not be addressed to him. In fact, it is not just addressed to him; it is addressed to all the people who generalize the situation and do not consider others and appreciate their struggle.
For Guedioura, who runs OnFireSports agency, the sport connection does not come by chance.
“Sports is in the DNA of our family, my father Nacer Guedioura is a retired Algerian national football player; my mother is a retired national basketball player; I have a few uncles as well as aunts playing in top level, as well as my brother Adlène who recently was crowned as African Champion playing for both Al-Gharafa SC, and Algeria national football team; my other brother Nabil played for Crystal Palace F.C. in the UK and top level clubs in France; also our youngest Arslane is playing for Bourges 18 in France. Basically sport is in our blood, we grew up in a sports environment with all its values like sacrifice, respect and fair play,” he says.
During the ceremony in Vigevano, on March 22, he announced that he would ‘of course’ donate the money of the prize to Ines, who is currently trying to find her way in the new normal.
Ines, we all know 2020 has been tough on everyone, how difficult was it for you?
I’m trying to recover from my injury, and waiting so I can play again, last year was super tough. I was stuck in Tunisia for a year, I didn’t know much people there at the beginning, and there was no training also, I didn’t know how things will go and definitely didn’t expect staying for a year there. Now I’m back on track, training 2-3 times a day and waiting for my next tournament.
