‘I want to be in the Top 5,’ Ons Jabeur opens up on her lofty ambitions as she aims for better performances on tour
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Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur is one of the most cheerful tennis players on tour. Whenever she is not playing, she is either seen spending time with other players and having a good time. But despite being a very happy, cheerful and happy go lucky personality, the Tunisian is fiercely competitive when she is on the court.
Back home in Tunisia, she’s known as Wazeerat Al Sa’ada. That translates to Minister of Happiness.“Yes, that’s what they call me everywhere I go,” Jabeur said. “The first thing they say is, `You know, I wake up at 3 a.m. to watch your matches.’ Everybody’s also blaming me for waking up so early.
“Seriously, though, it’s great to see the support from the whole country.”
Ons Jabeur broke into the top 10 WTA Rankings last fall and became the first ever Arab woman to reach the milestone. However, she is not satisfied with this much. The Tunisian is aiming for the stars as she prepares for the Roland Garros.
“There is always a first time, I say,” Jabeur said, laughing of course. “I am glad that I am the first one to do it. Me, doing this, I try to inspire another generation with this, with great pleasure.
“I always try to work even harder because now the work is even tougher than before. The hardest thing is to maintain this great level, and hopefully, I can do it.”
‘I want to win more titles,” Ons Jabeur aims to follow up on her breakthrough year
The former Junior Roland Garros winner is keen to follow up on a breakthrough 2021 as she wants to keep pushing and win more accolades this season. Despite looking in sublime form, Jabeur has often lost the plot completely in some matches and has bowed out of the events from quarterfinals or round of 16 stages.
She reached the finals at the Charleston Open last year as it prepared her for decent performances in the Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The 27-year-old will hope that she can replicate that form from last season and probably even do better after a rocky start to her current year.
However, her 2021 did not end the way she would have liked as she retired with an injury to her elbow in Moscow and that was her last game of the year. She then spent some time in the Maldives with her husband as she prepared herself for the current campaign.
In the off-season, she worked very hard on her serves, conditioning and tactical play hoping that all of these will help her be a better player than she already is.
“There are a few moments during the match that are, let’s say, in one second you can win the match or lose the match,” Jabeur said. “Those seconds I’m trying to focus more on being more patient during my match. Those matches that I lost and were very close – I don’t have to lose them again.”
This season she has been anything but consistent. Jabeur has made it to the latter stages in some tournaments but has had spells of struggles in between aswell. She reached the quarterfinals in Dubai and Doha but was defeated by qualifier Daria Saville at the Indian Wells. She reached the round of 16 in Miami only to lose against Danielle Collins.
However, the past is now history and the 27-year-old wants to hold on to what’s left. Therefore she is aiming to do well at Charleston Open as she is through to the third round. Her schedule after this will follow Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros. She will hope that the beginning of the clay-court season will bring her great fortune and memories.
“I want to win more titles,” she said. “I want to be in the Top 5. Yeah, that’s the key for us. We’re trying to find every single detail to push for what’s missing for me to be one of the best five players in the world, and we’re getting there.
“We’re working very hard – we’re just waiting for everything to click,” the World No.10 concluded.
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Atrayo Bhattacharya
(193 Articles Published)