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HAZEM'S HURT
I got shrapnel stuck in my arm when bomb exploded next to court in Syrian civil war… now I’m making my way as tennis pro
Star told SunSport he can only see family when he plays specific tournament in Iran
FOR Hazem Naw, tennis is literally a matter of life and death.
Because when training in his homeland Syria as a teenager, a bomb fell on an adjacent court.
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Minutes later, as the youngster took shelter with his coach, a second landed just 50 metres away, sending shrapnel into his arm.
Now, he is using the terrifying memories of growing up in a civil war to fuel his desire to make a career in professional tennis.
The son of a tennis coach, Naw was born on the first day of the new millennium in January 2000 and grew up in Aleppo with the sport always central.
But when the unimaginable terrors of the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, simply making the 4km journey to the local tennis club posed a very real threat to his life.
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Naw, 24, told SunSport: “The war affected all Syrians. We were scared. We just wanted to survive.
“Economic-wise, it was terrible for us. We had problems with many things: electricity, water, getting fruit and vegetables, normal stuff… it was tough.
“My mother’s aunt died from a bomb. Some uncles of my father also died.
“It was very difficult and dangerous to play tennis in Syria. My brother and I were able to practise when the situation was calm and we didn't hear gunshots or bombs.
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“We were trying to be very careful to do a little bit of sport. Sport is perfect if you have all this stress.
“In Aleppo, the areas with the problems were two kilometres from where we practised so when they started shooting or fighting, we heard everything very loud and left immediately.
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“Every day we were going and there was a small chance of something happening but thank God nothing did.”
Four of the five tennis courts at the Aleppo club where Naw’s father coached were destroyed by a bomb in 2014 - fixed more than five years later because there were “many more important things than repairing them” - with the other one damaged slightly but just about still playable.
By 2015, Naw’s dad and older brother had moved to Lebanon where they gave lessons while he headed to Damascus to train, with his mother and sister staying in Aleppo.
And it was in Damascus that he experienced his shocking ordeal that could have ended his life aged 15, let alone his tennis dream.
Naw said: “I was practising with one of the coaches on court one and the first bomb landed on court five.
“We felt like a small earthquake and then moved to where we thought was a safer place.
“Then the second bomb landed around 50-70m from where we were standing. A small rock chip of the bomb hit my right playing arm.
“It just got stuck in the skin, it did not go so much on the inside. But I had to go to the hospital, where they had to clean it and tape it.”
JOURNEY TO GERMANY
Thankfully, Naw survived relatively unscathed. But in 2018, he decided to leave Syria for Germany, where he initially stayed with his father’s friend and now lives in an apartment in Cologne near his brother and coach Amer.
He is unable to go back and therefore has seen his parents and sister just four times in the six years since fleeing, each time at an ITF tournament in Iran where his family can visit on their Syrian passports.
Speaking to SunSport from his new home in Germany, Naw said: “Family comes first always.
“Sometimes I play tennis for my family, hoping one day I can bring them all here and we can all live together.
“We FaceTime almost every day.
“It's always nice to see them in Iran but every time at the airport it gets emotional.”
Naw started from zero in Germany but was helped by receiving government funding and his grasp of English from school.
Naw and his brother both gave tennis lessons and learnt German.
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Now he is thriving in life, linguistics and even in love – winning matches with his German girlfriend watching on.
As well as starring for his club Rot-Weiss Koln in the Bundesliga system, he has earned £40,000 in prize money, lifted his fourth ITF title in January then secured his maiden victory against a top-100 player.
He even became the first Syrian to win a main-draw match on the Challenger Tour, the level below the ATP Tour.
It was a significant moment made all the more impressive by the fact he had travelled overnight to Koblenz and arrived at 4am.
The world No333, who travels with Amer, said: “I’m proud to be the first one.
“To play for your country in the Davis Cup is a dream come true because in 2009, in Aleppo, where I grew up they hosted an event - Syria was playing and I was a ball kid.”
Naw idolised Marat Safin and Juan Martin Del Potro as a child.
But his dad forced him to stop watching tennis because of the negative impact on his own game.
The war helped me be stronger and appreciate lots of things like family or not throwing food away... I never thought I'd make it this far
Hazem Naw
Naw explained: “From five, I was watching a lot.
“Sometimes I got angry and broke rackets because Safin, my favourite, was breaking rackets all the time.
“I also liked Del Potro and was always switching my technique.
“My father was not happy about this so for a period I was not allowed to watch.”
Now with a calm head and settled technique, Naw is reaping the rewards as he aims to emulate his heroes by playing on tennis’ biggest stages, something that seemed impossible amid the horrors he witnessed in Syria.
Although deeply painful, the war has certainly made Naw tougher on and off the court.
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He added: “The plan is to play all the big tournaments like the Masters and the Grand Slams - not even the main draw even just to play the qualifying. This is my life goal.
“I am now very close. It is still a big step, about 100 places, but it's closer than ever.
“I believe. Especially beating a top-100 player shows I have the level.
“Sometimes I wish I could do something else or have another job but I only have tennis.”
Naw concluded: “Of course, this war is not a good experience but you have to make positives.
“It helped me be stronger and more resilient on the court and appreciate lots of things like being around family or not throwing food away.
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“At the time in Syria, I never thought I would make it this far. We did our best to be who we are now tennis-wise, personality-wise and human-wise.
“You cannot predict the future so it makes it sweeter if you achieve new things.”
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