First Lebanese tennis player to reach a grand slam unites community in wild celebration and renewed hope
James Habib could barely believe what he was seeing.
At court 13 at Melbourne Park, he watched as his cousin, Hady Habib, became the first ever Lebanese player in the Open Era to reach the main draw of a grand slam tournament.
In front of a raucous crowd on Sunday, Habib beat Bu Yunchaokete of China – a moment James says he had only ever dreamed of.
“I was having an out-of-body experience, I completely forgot where I was, I could barely even hear myself,” the 25-year-old Lebanese Australian says. “The whole family was feeling the same way, we had been dreaming of this moment.
“I can’t even begin to describe it, we were celebrating for hours afterwards. And the whole family, really the whole community, are all obsessed with him now.”
Hady’s achievement has ignited an unprecedented wave of support among Australia’s Lebanese diaspora and his win has generated enormous interest in the community. Hady told Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast that he felt like he was playing for the “whole country”.
“It feels amazing like to be able to unite the Lebanese community in a way … and for them to share my victory with me is very special.
“I always had goals to play these big tournaments, but at times it seemed very far, I’m not going to lie. I had some challenging moments in my career playing for a small country with limited financial help from the government.”
And while he knew there was a strong community in Australia, he did not anticipate quite how strongly he would be supported.
“The energy that I felt on the court from the fans, it literally pushed me to get that win. I couldn’t have done it without them. And yeah, just to win in front of them was an incredible moment for me, and I’ll probably never forget that for the rest of my life.”
Hady Habib was born in Houston, Texas, but when he was six his family chose to return to Lebanon where he first picked up a racket. With limited infrastructure in Lebanon, he had to travel to train.
Going into the final week of competition on the ATP Challenger Tour last year, he was ranked No 320 and about 100 places below the Australian Open cut-off for the qualifying draw of the tournament. His country is picking up the pieces after Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion, which have killed nearly 4,000 people, destroyed whole towns and villages, and displaced more than a million people.
But he, and his extended family, always believed.
“His success means so much more than just winning a match,” James Habib says. “He is allowing us to resonate with our roots again. For a lot of us, Lebanon is just something our parents knew, somewhere they came from.
“But he reminds us of the beauty of modern Lebanon, how warm our culture is and how strong our community is. He represents the new generation of Lebanese young people, determined and hungry for success.”
His win sparked wild celebrations, with members of the local Lebanese community in Melbourne dancing the traditional dabke dance deep into the night.
Eddie Fakhri, an influencer and community leader, is a regular at the Australian Open but has never seen the dabke at the event in his time.
“It is such a delight,” he says. “We have people sharing the details for his next match across family and community WhatsApp groups and teaching people how to watch it.
“This is just unprecedented, it has brought the community together like never before.”
The Australian Lebanese community has a long history in Australia, with migrants from the small Middle Eastern country arriving in New South Wales as far back as 1870. Waves of migration peaked in the 1970s and 80s, at the height of the Lebanese civil war, with the community growing exponentially since.
To Fakhri, Habib’s success has transcended the various ethnic and religious fault lines within the community.
“It’s because he is representing the country of Lebanon, not a faction or a religious group, but Lebanon as a country.
“It means so much more than when a player represents an AFL or NRL club, this is about us as a people. And that means there hasn’t been a buzz like this, that is as widely shared as this, in a long time.”
This year’s tournament also represents a cultural step forward for the community in another way, with Lebanese food served at the event for the first time.
Popular charcoal chicken chain El Jannah are one of the stallholders, alongside the iconic Lebanese bakers A1 Bakery, who are serving their pastries and sandwiches to fans for the first time.
Anthony Raji, A1’s owner, says he was overjoyed to serve Lebanese tennis fans during the bakery’s first appearance at the event.
“Of course it’s always great to serve everyone else, but it’s nice to see so many fans from our community turning up. We’re all buzzing for Hady.”
Raji is relishing being a part of a “special moment” for the local Lebanese community, who he says have never felt more connected to Melbourne.
“This is a moment for all Lebanese people here, to feel like they are a part of this. Like we are.”
