The life of a tennis player is often described as lonely, but for Algerian 16-year-old Ines Ibbou it is lonelier than most.
She is the only Junior tennis player from her country, and with the six Algerian men who hold an ATP ranking all falling outside the top 1500, all hopes of someone making it to the top are pinned on her.
Ibbou has had to battle hard to convince family and friends that pursuing a career as a tennis player is feasible, especially given how early she decided that was her chosen path.
“In Algeria there are not so many tennis players and with my parents I took the decision at ten years old to be a tennis player. It is my dream,” she says.
“When I took up my first racket I wanted to be a tennis player. My family and friends said it is crazy to do this because you need to do school. I am home schooled, and it is very, very hard.
“Now they say ‘Wow it is so funny to have a tennis player in Algeria’ but in the beginning not too many people believed in the project.”
With Algeria not famous for its tennis stars, it is unsurprising that the facilities do not match those Ibbou has experienced at Wimbledon and elsewhere on the Junior tour.
“In the beginning we had bad courts [in Algeria], which were not very easy to play on,” she says.
Sometimes it’s not very easy because I have so many TV shows and it’s obligatory to go and it’s pressure for me
“You have stones and grass [on the clay courts]. We don’t have indoor courts so when it’s raining we just do physical work, and we have just got our first hard courts.
“I think these things give me the belief. When you don’t have all you need, and you need to prove to all the people you can do it, it is very hard. That is the reason for my level now.
“The organisation and the complex [at Wimbledon] is very nice. I hope to play the big draw not just the Juniors.”
To give herself the best chance of achieving that goal, Ibbou has made the difficult decision to move to Spain from September. Although she expects to miss home when she is there, Ibbou acknowledges that the move is necessary to further her career.
“When I go away for one month or two months it is sometimes difficult because I am without my parents and family,” she says.
“But it is OK, it is like this for a tennis player. If you don’t make this sacrifice I think you cannot go to the professional level. I am very happy like this and I hope to continue.”
These are mature words for someone so young, not least one with no obvious mentor at this early stage in her development, aside from her well-respected Spanish coach Ignacio Benito.
Yet she concedes the pressure of carrying a nation’s weight of expectation on her young shoulders is sometimes hard to deal with.
“It is sometimes difficult because you have so many pressures to the people in Algeria. With TV and radio, all they see is just me, me, me,” she says. “Sometimes it’s not very easy because I have so many TV shows and it’s obligatory to go and it’s pressure for me.
“I hope for some younger players to come and join me, because it’s not easy to stay alone like this.”
Whilst Algeria has a population of almost 40 million, Ibbou estimates there are only 2,000 young people playing tennis.
“The National Association hope in the next year to have a better formation for young tennis players, and many competitors to play Grand Slams from next year for the next five or ten years.”
For now Ibbou is their sole representative, and although she has just been defeated in the first round of the girls’ singles she says has already exceeded her own ambitions for the year.
“My objective this year was to go into the top 50, and I am number 43,” she says. “Now my ambition for this year is to be top 20 in Juniors.
“My dream is to win a senior Grand Slam."
