In some Arab countries girls can learn basic tennis skills. (Bahrain Tennis Federation)

When tennis player Sania Mirza leaves her home in Hyderabad, India, she is rarely seen without her bodyguard.

Mirza is a member of the Indian Muslim community and at the age of 18 was the subject of a fatwa (Islamic religious decree), calling on her to change her tennis outfit which “leaves no room for imagination.”

Now 20, Mirza is one of a handful of professional Muslim female tennis players. That is why her story, whilst gaining much publicity, is mostly treated by the media as a personal matter, and not as part of a larger phenomenon.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Official Rule Book determines that “for tournament matches all players will be expected to dress and present themselves in a professional manner.” According to its rules, a player “shall wear appropriate and clean attire and shall not wear sweatshirts, sweat pants, t-shirts, jeans, or cut-offs during matches.”

Nothing in the rules specifically refers to the length of the garments. The word skirt is not mentioned. Yet, somehow it became accepted that a skirt had to be worn, the length of which was too short for the average Muslim woman to wear.

The WTA rules also determine that it is up to the referee to approve or disapprove of an outfit. “A player may be asked to change if the referee deems it necessary,” the Rule Books reads.

“Every year the skirt gets shorter and shorter. Why not longer?” asks Aravane Rezai, who is ranked in the WTA’s top-50.

Her parents were born in Iran and immigrated to France before she was born. Nevertheless, she considers herself a practicing Muslim and is bewildered by the WTA rules.

“I think if this rule would change and if everybody could choose what to wear, then many girls in Muslim countries would be able to play tennis,” Rezai says.

When Rezai is training, she wears long pants and long-sleeved shirts. She regards this attire as “respectful.” Several times during her short career Rezai asked to play in official tournaments with Bermuda pants, which cover the legs down to the knees.

“If Raphael Nadal can, why can’t I?” she asked. But the referees refused.

Rezai believes this rule stops many potential talents in the Muslim World from developing.

“I saw many juniors, who stopped playing tennis at the age of 14 because of the family and their religious tradition,” says the technical director of Tennis Emirates, ‘Salah Bramly.

Bramly, a former tennis player from Tunisia, arrived in Dubai in 2001 and joined the United Arab Emirates’ tennis association. One of the first things he initiated was the UAE national championship for children under the age of 14. His vision was to promote tennis in the oil-rich UAE, where football and horseback riding take the lead. To his amazement, out of 200 participants, 60 percent were girls.

Bramly understood the potential, but knew what obstacles lay ahead.

“Many people are very conservative. They do not like their girls to play sport, especially when they become young ladies,” Bramly explains.

The WTA ranking includes very few players from the Muslim world, most of whom are very low on the list. There is no UAE player in the rankings.

But this might change in the coming years, regardless of whether the WTA dress code changes or not.

Dubai, one of the richest places in the world, is moving back and forth between the Muslim traditions on the one hand, and its growing proximity to the West on the other. This situation has led some parents to encourage their daughters to continue their tennis careers, even if it means settling for shorter clothes.

Fatima Janahi, 12, is a talented tennis player, who has no intention of putting an end to her already seven-year-long career. A year ago she approached her father, ‘Abbas, and told him how she felt. His answer was simple: “It’s up to you. The door is open.”

Unlike many other parents in the Muslim world, ‘Abbas sees no problem with the skirt issue.

“If Fatima would like to wear a skirt then I’ll let her. The dress Sharapova wears is different from what we’re used to. Fatima can wear it if she wants; it’s very nice,” says ‘Abbas.

When asked what her dream is, Fatima answers with no hesitation: “I want to be a professional tennis player. If I really want to reach the top 10, then I think I can,” she says.

Headscarf on the tennis court

Aravane Rezai at the French Open. (Stephanie Morel)

Despite the obvious obstacles, Rezai believes Iranian tennis players could, and would do well in international tournaments, if only they could participate. Rezai took part twice in the Muslim World ‘Olympic Games’ in Tehran. Women wearing traditional dress and headscarves participated in all kinds of sports, including tennis.

Rezai is relentlessly trying to push Muslim girls to participate in tennis and in other sports.

“I want to show that women can take part in the same activities as men,” she says.

“I want people to understand that I can play tennis even if I wear a chador (a dress which covers the entire body).”

But Rezai knows that no matter how hard she tries to promote tennis in Iran, if the WTA rules don’t change then all her efforts will be in vain.

Erhan Oral, the technical director of the Turkish Tennis Federation, agrees.

“We had a case two or three years ago during an international tournament in Ankara, when a tennis player from Iran wanted to play with a scarf and long clothes. The international supervisor did not allow this because it was against the international rules of tennis. Everyone thought that because Turkey was a Muslim country, she would get away with it, but she didn’t,” Oral says.

Turkey’s population is almost 100% Muslim. Nevertheless, its secular tradition, which goes back to the 1920s, does not place any obstacles in the way of its female tennis players. Turkey has five WTA-ranked women tennis players.

The Media Line asked the WTA to comment on the dress code issue, and the response leaves some room for optimism.

“While we are not aware of any player requests to wear non-traditional tennis attire due to religious reasons, if such a request were made, it would be reviewed by the Tour on a case-by-case basis,” says the WTA Tour vice president for communications, Andrew Walker.

Walker adds: “My best guess is that as long as the request did not interfere with play or result in an unfair distraction to the other player, it would be granted. As a matter of principle, we would do everything in our power to respect the different religious beliefs and customs of our players, while at the same time ensuring an even playing field on the court.”

Asked specifically about Rezai’s request to play with Bermuda pants, Walker says he was not familiar with the request. He adds, however, that he could not believe that a referee would “deny a bona-fide request based on personal religious reasons that doesn’t interfere with the play or the opposing player.”

The bottom line, according to Walker, is that the WTA is doing all it can to ensure a “balanced playing field, respect for players and their beliefs, and at the same time professional and proper match attire.”

Sounds promising? Maybe. Still, the rules are not about to change soon, and so the referee in each match still makes the final decision as to whether or not an outfit is “proper.”

And then there is another problem.

Even if the WTA would indeed change the dress code and allow players to wear what they want, Rezai is afraid that this would also cause problems for Muslim players, this time for those who are actually comfortable playing in skirts.

“What if other players, like Sania Mirza will not want to play in pants? Then people would ask her why she does not wear pants and it may create more problems for her,” Rezai says.

Rezai knows she has a long way to go before she achieves her goals: being number one in the world and opening the door to the tennis world for more Muslim women. But she is not discouraged.

“I feel I am not alone. So many Muslim girls in Iran want to play in different sports, not only tennis. But they cannot do this outside Iran. It is difficult to change the rules of a country like Iran, but surely the WTA can change its own rules.”