She tried gymnastics and swimming but did not like them. Her parents then looked for other sports that would interest their daughter. They put her in tennis and soon realised it was a perfect fit.
“When I played tennis for the first time, my coach was surprised thinking that I had been playing tennis for a while,” she told SBS Kurdish.
“When I was holding the tennis racket I was producing so much power so I told my parents I want to play tennis. We didn’t think that I would continue playing tennis, we thought it would just be an after school activity.”
As with many players trying to make it in professional tennis, Mohamad's main obstacle was not being able to compete in tournaments due to financial constraints in travelling.
“Tennis is a very financial sport, you have to have a lot of connections, and know a lot of people to help you get there. Once you start playing professionally you travel every single week," she said.
"The tournaments are in different states and different countries so a lot of money is being spent and at the moment I don’t have anyone helping me financially except my parents."
Mohamad recounted that in 2018, she was invited to play at a $60,000 tournament in Australia but was forced to pull out due to her finances.
"The only thing that’s holding me back at the moment is being able to travel. My tennis is there I’ve seen myself compete against top players.”
As far as having idols in tennis, Mohamad likes Novak Djokovic and Kim Clijsters for their movement on the court, and Serena Williams for her power and mental game.
“I don’t really have one player to look up to it’s a mix of all the players and all the styles that they have. So there is no one out there for me I am one of a kind to be honest, I want to be just Shatoo.”
Mohamad has hopes to compete in more tennis tournaments and wants to be a top 100 player by 2010.
She ultimately hopes to one day become the World No.1.
“Now my International Tennis Federation (ITF) ranking is 700 and my Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is 1,000 in the world. By the end of the year I want to be able to get the WTA 900 or 800 in the world and when 2020 comes around my goal is to end the year at least in top 100 in the world," she said.
"I want to be able to qualify for the grand slams, play in the grand slams and ultimately I want to be a grand slam champion and number one in the world.”
