“I was having a panic attack,” Not Serena Williams or Naomi Osaka, but this WTA player faced similar mental health turmoils before a Grand Slam

The 29-year-old will next appear in the 2024 Australian Open. 

“I was having a panic attack,” Not Serena Williams or Naomi Osaka, but this WTA player faced similar mental health turmoils before a Grand Slam

Ons Jabeur dejection after Marketa Vondrousova beat her in the Ladies Final on Centre Court, Wimbledon. Wimbledon Ladies Final Day, Wimbledon, London, UK (Via Imago)

Ons Jabeur’s loss against Marketa Vondrousova in the final of the 2023 Wimbledon was indeed very heartbreaking. The Tunisian had lost the 2022 Wimbledon final against Elena Rybakina and wanted to lift the trophy very badly, having reached the final for the second successive time. 

She tried to manifest her win by all means possible and photoshopped an image of herself with the Wimbledon trophy and saved the image on her phone. Unfortunately, Ons Jabeur was unable to realize her dream despite a great attempt.

She has made it to three Grand Slam finals so far in her career but has failed to win even one. Thus, she continues to work towards her dream of becoming the first-ever Arab Grand Slam winner. 

FS Video
YouTube video

The Tunisian revealed in her documentary “This is me” which was released recently on Tod.to that on the day of the Wimbledon final, she was extremely stressed and even had a panic attack. 

The day of the final, doing my routine with Melanie [Maillard, my psychologist], I told her, I’m too stressed, I can’t, this is too much, maybe I can say I was having a panic attack.
said Jabeur

Jabeur eventually lost the final in straight sets to Czech professional Marketa Vondrousova. It was her second loss of the season against the Czech in a Grand Slam. Earlier; she had lost to her in the second round of the Australian Open, following which she had a minor surgery that stopped Jabeur from taking part in the Middle Eastern Swing. 

Ons Jabeur thinks she lost her finals due to lack of self belief

Jabeur said in the documentary that throughout her life, she has been dealing with naysayers and doubters from a very young age. This probably had an impact on her subconscious, because of which she has a lack of self-belief and always gets panicked in pressure situations. 

Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur (Source: Imago)
People laughed and maybe that made me doubt what I wanted to do as well. And I do believe there is a lot of unconscious things in there that I’m working on and I’m still working on and I believe that I can do better in this, but I don’t have a magic stick that I [can use and be like], ‘Believe in yourself’. 
Jabeur said

She finally took her revenge against Marketa Vondrousova in the group stage of the WTA Finals, but failed to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament. The 29-year-old will next appear in the 2024 Australian Open. 

In case you missed it: