Biography | Nasser Al-Khelaifi — The 2012 Qatar Open Week He Watched as Federation President

The photograph from 11 February 2012 puts Al-Khelaifi in a dark suit on the Khalifa centre-court apron, next to Karim Alami, during the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

He was no longer in the draw. He was the host.

The federation he had chaired since November 2008 runs this tournament and the women's event that shares the same hard courts.

Doha Stadium Plus Qatar took the picture and released it under a Creative Commons licence. Alami, a former world No. 26 from Morocco, sits on the federation board.

The 2012 men's event was an ATP 250. Later editions moved up the calendar ladder. The women's championships had already been here from 2008 to 2010.

For a former Davis Cup player whose best ATP ranking was 995, the week is the inversion of his playing life. The same complex that staged his home main-tour loss in 2002 now stages the players he invites.

Official bios add an economics degree from Qatar University and a master's from the University of Piraeus. They do not publish a class year for either, so those rooms stay off this pin.

What can be pinned is the show court on a tournament Tuesday, with the president of the federation standing where the ball boys wait.

The West Bay hotels are a short walk. The skyline behind the courts has thickened since 1992.

Al-Khelaifi still holds the federation job. The 2024 general assembly renewed him on these grounds. The 2012 picture is the earlier version of the same arrangement: a player who stayed, and then ran the building.

Photo: Doha Stadium Plus Qatar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.