Ons Jabeur Takes an Indefinite Break from Tennis Just Weeks After Her Teary Wimbledon Retirement

Ons Jabeur has never won a tour-level title since 2023 and has struggled with form since then.

Ons Jabeur Takes an Indefinite Break from Tennis Just Weeks After Her Teary Wimbledon Retirement

Ons Jabeur (via X/TNT Sports)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Ons Jabeur has announced that she will take an indefinite break from the sport just weeks after leaving the Wimbledon court in tears. The 30-year-old is in a delicate moment in her as she’s without a title on tour since 2023. She has also slipped out of the top 50 in the WTA rankings and currently sits as World No.71.

Jabeur has endured a lot of heartbreak in her career, arguably more than any active player. The Tunisian star came very close to winning her first Grand Slam at the Wimbledon Championships in 2022, but lost to Elena Rybakina in the final. She then got to the final of the US Open that same year and lost to Iga Swiatek.

The following year, she reached the final of Wimbledon but left the Center Court in tears after losing the title to Marketa Vondrousova. The former World No.2 featured at the tournament in July and failed to win a single match. She took a medical timeout during her first round match against Viktoriya Tomova and had her blood pressure checked.

She returned to continue playing after 14 minutes, having left the court to receive treatment, but she conceded the match while down 6(5)-7, 0-2. During the medical timeout, she was in tears and seemed to be struggling. She was hoping to have a good grass-court season after getting her first Top 10 win of the season in Berlin, but that didn’t materialize due to injury.

She has had to deal with a couple of injuries in her career, which has seen her struggle for the past two seasons. She revealed in a statement on X that she was taking an indefinite break from tennis after struggling with injuries and other challenges for the past two years:

In the last two years, I have made a great effort, fought against injuries, and faced many other challenges. But deep down, I hadn’t truly felt happy on the court for a long time. Tennis is a beautiful sport. But now I feel it is time to take a step back and put myself first: breathe, heal, and rediscover the joy of living.

On Thursday (July 17), the WTA had first announced that Jabeur had withdrawn from the Canadian Open due to fatigue and was the only player in the WTA top 99 yet to be added to the US Open entry list. Then after a few hours, the Tunisian star announced that she was taking an indefinite break from the sport.

Ons Jabeur says she will remain connected to tennis despite taking a break from the court

Ons Jabeur has struggled to reach top form this season. She failed to reach the fourth round of any Grand Slam tournament this year, having lost in the first round of the French Open and Wimbledon Championship, and then suffered a third-round defeat against Emma Navarro at the Australian Open in January.

Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur (Image via X)

However, in the aforementioned statement, she revealed that despite taking a break from the court, she will still remain connected and close to the sport:

Thank you to all my followers for your understanding. Your support and love mean a lot to me. I carry it with me always. Even while I am away from the court, I will stay close and connected in different ways, and I will share this journey with all of you.

Jabeur’s best run at the WTA this season came at the Qatar Open, a WTA 1000 tournament in February, where she reached the quarter-finals. She then reached the same stage at the Brisbane International, Abu Dhabi, and Berlin Tennis Open. At Berlin, she earned her first top 10 win in over a year after beating the fourth seed Jasmine Paolini in straight sets in the third round.

Also Read: Rennae Stubbs Thinks ‘This’ Will be Novak Djokovic’s Career’s Last Grand Slam After Wimbledon Defeat