Shelbayh meets Bellingham, Kroos & Vini Jr. at Real Madrid practice

Abdullah Shelbayh

Abdullah Shelbayh, a 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF competitor, enjoyed an experience he will not soon forget earlier this week. The 20-year-old Jordanian received VIP access at Real Madrid training and met the club’s stars including Jude Bellingham, Toni Kroos and Vini Jr.

“The experience was pretty cool. Being at the Real Madrid players' practice ahead of their Man City game in the Champions League on Tuesday I think is something very special to me,” Shelbayh told ATPTour.com. “It all happened because of Fernando Verdasco... We have a good relationship and he decided to take me to their practice. He organised everything and then we went and everything was pretty awesome.”

Verdasco, the former World No. 7 with 559 tour-level wins to his name, is now coaching Shelbayh.

“We got to meet the players and especially Jude Bellingham, Toni Kroos, Vinicius, Lucas Vazquez and actually Luka Modric, too,” Shelbayh said. “Those are the main stars of the team and I think it was very meaningful and I was very happy with the experience.

“Of course, I'm looking forward to doing that again, hopefully soon in the near future. I think I'm going to try to attend their football match on Tuesday against Man City in the Champions League since I'm going to be in Madrid anyway. It's pretty awesome and really grateful for that.”