Fujairah: Omar Bahrouzian is not just UAE's number one tennis player, he is the best in the Gulf according to the UAE national team coach, Jorge Martin Munoz.
The Spaniard made the confident claim as he watched his men compete in the Shaikh Zayed Cup taking place at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort where Bahrouzian, Hamad Al Janahi and Mahmoud Nader are all continuing preparations for next month's eight nation Group III Davis Cup Asia/Oceania competition which will be held in Sri Lanka.
Bahrouzian got off to a comfortable start with a straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Briton Gregory Howe. And while talking to XPRESS about his leading man, Munoz said: "For me, he is the best player in the Gulf for sure."
Even though the outcome of the GCC Championship last year saw Bahrouzian finish second best to talented Kuwaiti Mohammad Al Ghareeb, Munoz remained convinced in his own rating of the veteran Emirati. "He lost in the final, but it was very tight," said the man who just 12 months ago helped the Emirates gain promotion to Group III courtesy of winning the Group IV event in Jordan.
So does he believe his team can follow up on that success with another special result in the island nation? "I'm dreaming again," Munoz said. "It's going to be difficult as there are tough teams like Sri Lanka, Kuwait and others. Also, the tough part for us is the surface is clay which we are not the best on. So we'll have to adjust from hard court to clay."
French connection
That adjustment will come when the team head to France in less than a fortnight. "We'll be playing some tournaments there so they can get used to the surface. But overall they are playing well," said the coach who believes his wards are an improved bunch from the group that triumphantly returned from Jordan. "They are more like a team. It's very easy to work with them as they are good human beings and great professionals."
Bahrouzian could not avoid blushing on hearing the praise of his coach but believes he can still get better. "It's nice for the coach to have a lot of confidence in me. But at the end of the day, from a young age I analyse a lot," said the 29-year-old. "For example even though I won today I wasn't really happy, I wasn't feeling good on the court. Basically I'm happy with his praise but I want to improve more in the next few weeks."
Having returned from injury to play a stellar role in last year's Davis Cup success, Bahrouzian said he was being realistic about the team's hopes this time round. "It's important to be positive in sport, but I think our goal is we have to try and stay in Group III for this year and hope that by the same time next year, maybe we can host the tournament over here or somewhere on hard courts where we're comfortable," he said.
Al Janahi, still only 20 succumbed to the rust of not having played competitively since last August as he lost in straight sets to Bahraini Khaled Al Dhawadi. But the youngster who spends most of his time in the United States where he is studying business management believes he will be ready to serve his team's cause in time for the big one next month. "I'll be good," he said. "I just need more matches and I'll be fine."
Real lack a leader
Jorge Martin Munoz hails from Madrid and being a lifelong fan of nine-time European champions Real Madrid, he was clearly disappointed at seeing his beloved team bow out of the Uefa Champions League to bitter rivals Barcelona on Tuesday. And when asked what went wrong with Jose Mourinho's men, Munoz simply considered himself fortunate to have something he believes even The Special One lacks at the moment. "I missed seeing character, someone fighting for the team like the way Raul used to do, a leader. Madrid don't have a leader at the moment but I have a leader," he said referring to Omar Bahrouzian who was sitting beside him. "I'm lucky!"