Malek Jaziri (Arabic: مالك الجزيري, romanized: Mālik al-Jazīrī; born January 20, 1984) is a Tunisian former professional tennis player.
In 2013, Jaziri started off the year in Dubai as a wildcard, where he faced 17-time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer and lost in three tight sets.
[5] In May, he entered the main draw of his home Challenger tournament, the 2023 Tunis Open as a wildcard and played his last match against compatriot Aziz Dougaz.
Jaziri was embroiled in a controversial political incident, in which he withdrew from a tournament rather than play an Israeli player.
"[7] Israel Tennis Association CEO Shlomo Glickstein said: "It is sad to me that these kinds of things still happen.
I feel bad for the athletes who find themselves embroiled in such situations, which end up hurting their careers.”[7] Jaziri was cleared of wrongdoing by the ATP, but the International Tennis Federation (ITF) found that the Tunisian Tennis Federation breached the ITF constitution by ordering him not to compete.
The ITF Board decided to send a strong message to the Tunisian Tennis Federation that this kind of action will not be tolerated by any of our members.
"[8] In February 2015, Jaziri was again embroiled in a controversial political incident when he withdrew from a tournament before facing Israeli players.
In the doubles event, he and Spanish partner Marc López would have faced Israeli opponent Jonathan Erlich and František Čermák of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.
[9] The ATP said that they had confirmed with on-site medical staff that Jaziri's elbow injury was genuine, but opened an inquiry, stating: "Given a previous incident involving the player's national federation in 2013, we are looking into any wider circumstances of his withdrawal as a matter of prudence.