The organisers of a women’s tennis tournament in Nairobi have admitted they made a mistake by allowing a wildcard player to take part. Egyptian Hajar Abdelkader, 21, lost 6-0 6-0 and served 20 double faults in just 37 minutes during her first-round match on Wednesday. Many viewers wondered if she had played tennis before. Abdelkader won only three points, two from her opponent Lorena Schaedel’s double faults and one from an unforced error by the German player, who is ranked 1,026th in the world. The tournament is an International Tennis Federation (ITF) W35 event hosted by Tennis Kenya. Tennis Kenya said Abdelkader was given a spot at the last minute after another player withdrew. They wanted to keep the number of players and countries balanced. However, they now say she should not have been allowed to play. "The federation has taken note of this experience and will ensure that such an extremely rare occurrence never happens again," they said. Tennis Kenya also reached out to both players to offer support as the match received wide social media attention. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Tennis Federation said Abdelkader is not registered as an Egyptian player and has no official ties with them. They confirmed she lived in Kenya and entered the tournament with a wildcard from Tennis Kenya, without any role or approval from Egypt’s federation. The Egyptian Federation's technical director, Dia Nabil Loutfy, said: "We would like to clarify that she is not registered with the Egyptian Tennis Federation, nor is she included in any of our official player lists." The federation had no involvement in her participation. Tennis Kenya stated it remains committed to fairness, transparency, and the growth of tennis in Kenya, East Africa, and across the continent.