Ons Jabeur says she and her husband cried as they watched footage of her historic run to the Wimbledon final last year on Break Point, the Netflix tennis docuseries, and that her crushing defeat against Elena Rybakina can serve as motivation for her to take the final step in her career eventually and become Wimbledon champion.
“It was very emotional. I saw it, actually, before, and I haven’t watched it again,” Jabeur said as she prepared for the Eastbourne International this week. “But I don’t think I will because it’s very emotional, very tough to watch it. Great memories, but especially after the final was very emotional. Me and my husband, we cried when we watched it.”
The Tunisian took her trailblazing career to new heights by becoming the first African and Arab tennis player to reach a grand slam singles final at Wimbledon last year, eventually falling to Rybakina in three sets.
Two months later Jabeur reached the US Open final , losing against Iga Swiatek. She ended the year at No 2, the highest-ranked African and Arab player in history.
One year on, Jabeur says the pain of those defeats is motivating. “The feeling that never goes away – it’s always there,” she said.
“Definitely, you want to change the scenario in that episode. Maybe, we will see. For me, the most important thing is I feel healthy and enjoy my game on grass.”
Last week, Jabeur’s first appearance of the season on grass ended badly with defeat in the first round of the Berlin Open, but she feels she is in good shape after a series of injuries and merely searching for rhythm on the grass. The same isn’t true of last year’s Wimbledon champion, who is racing to regain full fitness before her title defence after being forced to withdraw from the French Open because of a virus.
Rybakina had arrived at the French Open as one of the top contenders, but she instead had to withdraw before her third-round match. Upon her return, the Kazakhstani lost in three sets to Donna Vekic in the second round of Berlin, a WTA 500 event.
“It’s been tough,” Rybakina said. “Actually at the French Open, after I withdrew, I went back to the hotel and it was worse so I had to stay in Paris for a few days, not leaving the room.
I started my preparation a week after, just slowly started and it was tough since it was a virus. I still think I’m not 100% physically where I want to be but slowly it’s getting better. Hopefully I’m getting some more matches and feel more comfortable.”
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In the final week of preparation for Wimbledon, eight of the top 10 women are present at the Eastbourne International. The two not competing at Devonshire Park are the top two in the rankings. Fresh off her third French Open title, Swiatek, the No 1, will touch grass for the first time this week at the smaller WTA 250 event in Bad Homburg, Germany. Despite a second-round loss in Berlin, Aryna Sabalenka, the No 2, will head to Wimbledon for her final preparations.
Petra Kvitova underlined her status as one of the players to beat at Wimbledon by defeating Vekic 6-2, 7-6 (6) in Berlin to win her 31st career title. She has now won more titles than any player of her generation and she is second among active players, behind only Venus Williams.
A year ago, Kvitova was languishing outside the top 30 as injuries seemed to take their toll on the former world No 2. The Czech has now firmly embedded herself back in the top 10 and the two-time Wimbledon champion is a top contender in SW19 on her favourite surface.
In Birmingham, Jelena Ostapenko won the clash of former French Open champions, defeating Barbora Krejcikova 7-6 (8), 6-4 to win her sixth WTA title and put herself in position for a deep run at Wimbledon.
Such is the strength of the Eastbourne draw that Kvitova and Ostapenko have drawn each other in the first round.
