Ons Jabeur is again in the final of Wimbledon. New mental strength should help the Tunisian to a historic victory this time.
Ons Jabeur always had the Venus Rosewater Dish at hand a year ago. Whenever she looked at her phone, the trophy that has been presented to the winner of Wimbledon since 1886 would light up on the home screen.
Only: The 28-year-old Tunisian has not yet held the original in her hands, despite the best chances.
Last year, Ons Jabeur from Ksar Hellal, south of Monastir, lost the final on the sacred turf to Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan in three sets.
A few weeks later she also lost in the final of the US Open against Iga Swiatek from Poland. When she was confronted with it again at the beginning of the year in the Netflix series “Break Point”, Jabeur and her husband Karim Kamoun brought tears to their eyes.
This time it should work, even if in the final on Saturday (3:00 p.m.) in Marketa Vondrousova an opponent is waiting who again plays much better than her position in the world rankings (42) suggests.
Jabeur turns things around in the semifinals
What gives Jabeur confidence that she will finally become the first Arab woman and African to win a Grand Slam is her newfound mental strength: she has learned to accept things as they are.
“My old self would probably have lost this match,” said Jabeur after the thriller in the semifinals against Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus, second in the world rankings. The old me would probably have lost his nerve when the score was 6: 7 (5: 7) and 2: 4. But this time Jabeur managed to “dig deep inside me” and find something that turned the tide into a three-set win. “I was like, screw it and just hit the return.”
For her home country Tunisia, the emotional Jabeur is the “minister of happiness”, but it was only a mental trainer who made her aware that she cannot force her own. The many setbacks in the past and this year have therefore taught you that you “have to be patient”, says Jabeur, there are “things that I can’t control”.
After the Australian Open, Jabeur had to have an operation on her knee, before the French Open she struggled with calf problems.
Difficult tournament path for Jabeur at Wimbledon
“Perhaps,” she says, they would have slowed down these injuries, she had learned, had to learn, “to accept what is happening.” This also applies if the opponent initially appears invincible.
Jabeur has endured a rocky road against high-profile competition at Wimbledon, most recently in the quarter-finals and semi-finals against Rybakina and Australian Open winner Sabalenka. She lost the first set against both. But: “You can always win a match mentally. That happened in the last two matches,” she says.
Jabeur is the favorite against Vondrousova, who was repeatedly thrown back by wrist injuries and surgeries after reaching the final of the 2019 French Open. But: She has already lost twice against the 24-year-old this year. “The final is the final,” says Jabeur, “whoever can control their emotions better will win it”.
Oh by the way, Ons, what’s on your home screen this time? Ons Jabeur grins: “I’ll show you after the final.”