Breaking News: Tennis star Ons Jabeur’s Wimbledon love affair laced with lots of frustration due to…

Breaking News: Tennis star Ons Jabeur’s Wimbledon love affair laced with lots of frustration due to…

 

“Wimbledon is one of those places which is my own paradise,” Tunisia’s tennis sensation Ons Jabeur tells Sky Sports, as rain teems down in Nottingham.

It’s a somewhat remarkable statement given some of the scars SW19 has undoubtedly left on the 29-year-old.

Over the last two years, Jabeur has made the final at Wimbledon’s famous Centre Court twice, surrounded by strawberries and cream, well-dressed onlookers and an immense tennis landscape. Yet, she has suffered defeat both times and remains in search of her maiden Grand Slam triumph.

Dubbed tennis’ ‘Minister of Happiness,’ Jabeur has grown to be one of Britain’s firm fan favourites. A heart-on-your-sleeve, passionate, affable professional, she regularly posts a smile while competing on court and is extremely well-liked by her rivals on tour too.

Returning to London in 2024, Jabeur admits internal feelings could be mixed, but her overarching opinion of the Wimbledon Championships has far from diminished.

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“I think it’s going to be a tough moment coming back, but also a nice moment,” Jabeur tells Sky Sports.

“The last time I walked off the court at Wimbledon, it was really sad and I was really crying, so I hope I don’t get those memories back.

“But I’m really looking forward to playing at Wimbledon. It’s one of those places which is my own paradise.

“I don’t know [why her connection with British fans is so strong]. Maybe they like my energy, they like everything I share with them. I feel like it’s a really honest relationship with the crowd. I’m loving it, and I love it every day.

“I really feel supported and respected here [in Britain], and all I can do is really give them good energy.”

A history-maker in search of more: Tennis’ holy grail

To sit alongside her two Wimbledon final defeats, Jabeur also suffered a US Open final loss in 2022, in addition to a number of quarter-final exits in search of the holy grail that is a tennis player’s first Grand Slam.

Born in Ksar Hellal in Tunisia, it was always tennis for Jabeur, having been introduced to the sport as a three-year-old by her mother, and become a pro in her teens.

She reached two junior French Open singles finals in 2010 and 2011, winning the latter to become the first African or Arab competitor to win a junior Grand Slam for some 47 years, dating back to 1964.

For all that early promise, it wasn’t until Jabeur was 25 that she truly made a mark at a Grand Slam at senior level, however.

Indeed, January 2020 saw Jabeur progress to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open – doing so while unseeded – ultimately losing to eventual champion Sofia Kenin in straight sets 6-4 6-4. History had been made, though, as Jabeur became the first Arab woman ever to make a Grand Slam quarter-final.

2021 saw her clinch her first WTA 250 title win, coming at the Birmingham Classic on grass, and reach the Indian Wells semi-finals, either side of reaching her first Wimbledon quarter-final, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-3.

Into the next year, 2022 proved a true breakthrough campaign at the highest level for Jabeur, and a 12 months in which she reached two Grand Slam finals, won her first WTA 1000 title at the Madrid Open, won her first WTA 500 title at the German Open, and also reached a further WTA 1000 final at the Italian Open, going down to the force of nature that is Iga Swiatek on clay.

Her first final at Wimbledon was her first at a Grand Slam, as Jabeur faced Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina. In doing so, she became the first Arab woman in history to reach a Grand Slam singles final, the first African woman to do so in the Open Era, and the first African woman in the history of the sport to do so not representing South Africa.

Jabeur won the first set 6-3 at the All England Tennis Club, moving a set away from the ultimate, but proceeded to lose the next two 6-2 6-2 in a crushing defeat, leaving Rybakina to celebrate her own first ever Grand Slam win.

Two months later, Jabeur was visible on the highest stage again, making it through to her first US Open final, but lost 6-2 7-6 to Swiatek after a devilishly close second-set tiebreak which finished 7-5.

Into 2023, her second and third WTA 500 titles were secured at the Charleston Open in the United States and Ningbo Open in China, while June saw her reach her first French Open quarter-final.

After winning the first set of that clash 6-3 vs Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia as favourite, she lost the second 7-6 (again via that 7-5 tiebreak score-line) and the third 6-1 to exit.

A month later, Jabeur’s time appeared nigh as she overcame a tough run to beat Madison Keys and Sabalenka – coming from a set down vs the latter in the semis – en route to her second successive Wimbledon final, where she would face unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova.

Heavily fancied, the pressure appeared to get to Jabeur as she suffered a devastating 6-4 6-4 final defeat. Like with Rybakina a year earlier, the victory was Vondrousova’s maiden Grand Slam title.

Not only that, it was Vondrousova’s first title in any form for six years (WTA 250 victory in Lugano in April 2017), as she became the first unseeded Ladies singles champion at Wimbledon in the Open era.

And so we arrive to 2024. Old failings came back to haunt Jabeur at the French Open this month, as she exited at the quarters having gone a set ahead vs the USA’s Coco Gauff, only to lose again in three.

Is 2024 to be the year she finally conquers Wimbledon?

“I love to be on the grass, and putting the shoes on, I feel like a football player going on the field. It seems amazing, the energy and connection with nature. It’s always unbelievable,” she says.

“I’m always happy to be here.”

She may have baggage, but a positive outlook and immense work-ethic place her closer than ever to tennis’ holy grail of a first Grand Slam triumph.