Crown Prince congratulates Shelbayeh on reaching Wimbledon junior doubles final

AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein on Monday congratulated junior Jordanian tennis player Abdullah Shelbayeh for advancing to the junior doubles final with Spaniard Daniel Rincon at Wimbledon, one of the world’s four Grand Slams.

The Crown Prince called Shelbayeh after the Wimbledon championship and commended his “great performance and outstanding results” in one of the major international championships, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Shelbayeh said he was happy with the phone call, noting that the Crown Prince’s interest in the achievement “will have a great impact towards more achievements” and expressed gratitude for the Jordanian people’s support. 

The 17-year-old made four straight victories at Wimbledon to reach the final with Rincon, which ended in favour of Alejandro Manzanera of Spain and Edas Butvilas of Lithuania.

Shelbaya became the first Jordanian to qualify for a Grand Slam after he competed in the Roland Garros in May.

Shelbaya, who has a career-high junior ranking of 41, trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain for three years and is listed as one of the best players in the academy.