Wimbledon, Maria and Jabeur first semifinalists

Jabeur-Maria is the first semifinal of the women’s draw at Wimbledon, and this alone would be enough to tell a story, but behind this meeting there is really much more. There is the journey of Tatjana, an encore mother who will turn 35 on 8 August. She was born on the same day as Roger Federer, but with a totally different career and life than the Swiss champion. The German is the fourth player in history to reach a Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon from outside the top 100 in the world after Mirjana Lucic in 1999, Jie Zheng in 2008 and Serena Williams in 2018.

He did it by beating Jule Niemeier, number 97, in a strange derby, with another incredible comeback after the one against Ostapenko. Mother Tatjana, in these two weeks of grace, has simply decided never to give up. She finished 4-6 6-2 7-5 for Maria, after a certainly vibrant match, certainly exciting, but as unfortunately too often happens at the WTA, rather modest from a technical point of view. Inevitable, considering the positions in the standings of the two (Maria is n.103 in the world), but at the slam level it is something that is being repeated too frequently.

Favorite Jabeur

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Ons Jabeur, world number 3, has to sell in that arm of technique and class, who wins the first slam semifinal of his career, after having pushed himself to the quarter-finals in Australia just this year. Not only that: the Tunisian is the first African tennis player to reach the penultimate act of the London tournament. A great satisfaction for this player outside the box of her, and that she is doing so well this year. Jabeur also beat Marie Bouzková 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, in a match that at one point risked becoming more complicated. The Czech, in fact, is one who defends very well, a wall that until now had held up well against her opponents. After a confusing set, Jabeur has found the key to take home this quarter-final. She is still the tournament favorite, Halep permitting.