He is currently a member of the board of directors of the International Tennis Federation and is chairman of the ITF Junior Circuit.

El Shafei played his first tournament in March 1962 at the Egyptian Championships losing in straight sets to Italian player Giuseppe Merlo in the round of 32.

He is one of only four players to beat Björn Borg at Wimbledon,[2] knocking him out in the third round in 1974 (the other three were John McEnroe, Roger Taylor and Arthur Ashe.)

He reached his last professional singles final (exhibition) at the Cairo Invitational losing to Bjorn Borg in two sets in December 1979 and played his last singles tournament in June 1982 at the Bristol Open losing to then South African player Johan Kriek,[3] he retired in 1983.

Won Wimbledon Championship for Boys 1964 & was runner-up in 1963 El Shafei participated in 17 ties for Egypt, where he played 42 matches, winning 23, losing 19 he also served as team captain in the 1980s.