Image by Prime Hills Sports Club
Palm Hills Sports Club has signed a sponsorship agreement with Mayar Sherif, Egypt’s highest-ranked tennis player of the Open Era, to support her professional career and her preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The partnership links the Cairo club, already home to Africa’s first Mouratoglou tennis centre, to the best-known name in Egyptian tennis.
The club said the partnership is part of a wider plan to invest in top sporting talent, grow its sports sponsorship portfolio and become a regular backer of Egyptian athletes who compete internationally.
A strategic step within Palm Hills
Tarek Attia, chairman of Palm Hills Sports Club, called the deal “a strategic step within Palm Hills’ long-term vision to support Egyptian sport”. He said the club’s role went beyond celebrating results to supporting athletes at every stage of their careers, including Sherif’s ambitions for LA 2028. He added that Palm Hills would keep expanding its sponsorship programme, focusing on athletes who can inspire younger generations.
Sherif said she was proud of the partnership and grateful for the club’s confidence in her career. She described it as a step towards “the dream of competing at the Olympic Games and raising Egypt’s name at the biggest sporting events.”
A long list of national firsts
She won women’s singles gold at the 2019 African Games in Rabat and in 2020 became the first Egyptian woman to play in the French Open main draw. She represented Egypt at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics. In 2022 she became the first Egyptian to win a WTA singles title, at the Parma Open. In 2023 she became the first Egyptian to reach a WTA 1000 quarter-final, in Madrid, and climbed to a career-high world ranking of 31st that June. In July 2026 she won her second WTA title at the Iasi Open in Romania, her first tour-level trophy in almost four years.
The timing works for both parties
Sherif is signing during her best run of form since 2023, so Palm Hills is backing a player on the way back up rather than one nearing the end of her career. In return, she gets stable funding through a full Olympic cycle. In tennis, players pay for their own travel, coaching and entry fees, and Olympic places depend largely on world ranking, so two more years on tour cost a lot.
The bigger link is the Mouratoglou Tennis Center, which the club opened in New Cairo in 2025. The centre sells an elite pathway to Egyptian juniors and their families, and the most convincing way to show that pathway works is with a player who has followed it. Sherif gives the club that example. Palm Hills Sports Club is part of a property developer’s portfolio, and a high-profile athlete adds weight to the facilities and memberships it markets to buyers in a competitive real estate market.
The partnership also shows where much of the funding for Egyptian Olympic sport comes from. Private clubs and their corporate owners now back leading athletes directly, alongside the federations. Palm Hills says more signings will follow.
