Ons Jabeur is hoping for more African tennis players to break through after defeating Lucia Bronzetti 6-1 6-4 at Roland Garros.
The Tunisian was in fine form in Paris as she avoided a repeat of last year to reach the second round.
Jabeur, who lost to Magda Linette in the opening round last year, dominated her Italian opponent to reach the second round at Roland Garros.
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Jabeur this clay court season as she has to deal with her fair share of injuries in 2023.
Speaking after the match Jabeur admitted she is happy that she is now healthy and also spoke about her stress levels before the match given what happened last year, “It wasn’t an easy round, for sure, but I tried my best to win in two sets,” Jabeur said in her press conference.
“Obviously I’m trying to get back to my level 100%, and I think that will come match by match and by playing more matches. But I’m happy that I’m healthy and I’m moving well on the court.
“You know, like every first round is very difficult in a Grand Slam. I was pretty stressed, I’ve got to say, but I was just trying to play my game. The most important thing for me was to feel healthy and to move well on the court.”
For Jabeur, physical fitness is the most important thing to gain in Paris as she looks to build momentum heading into Wimbledon where she reached the final last year.
Another topic Jabeur was asked about was about other African tennis players that could have made it on the professional circuit.
The Tunisian spoke in depth about how many players could have made and Jabeur hopes in the future more African players will achieve their dreams, “I mean, I grew up playing a lot of Arabic and African Championship, and definitely, I cannot remember names, but I know there were a lot of talented people there,” the Tunisia explained.
“But for me, to look back at the African Championships that I played, it’s one of the best periods for me, because it’s like so innocent playing tennis. All you want is win. You don’t care how many matches you play per day. We
played like three matches a day. Nobody cares.
“I think we had really amazing, talented people from South Africa, from Zimbabwe, from Morocco, Egypt, different other countries, Algeria. Unfortunately we did not see all of them here, but hopefully that will change one day.
“But especially, you know, in the juniors, because I have seen a lot — we had like the African continent group that they travel together and do like three months’ tournaments. The ITF honestly had a really good program for all of us.
“I did benefit from that. I don’t know. Hopefully in the future we can do better and, you know, with maybe me and my era now, represent the African region, we can inspire more and more players.”
Inspiring the next generation from Africa is part of Jabeur’s mission statement as a tennis playing having advocated for more tennis players from the region in the past.
However the Tunisian doesn’t just want more African players on the tour as she wants her success to inspire other players to believe that they can win Grand Slams too, “Hopefully better than Ons Jabeur. You know, I believe that the work already started by having more and more African players here and playing and, you know, showing that it’s not impossible,” Jabeur explained.
“Hopefully players will believe more and see that it is possible to win Grand Slams. Hopefully have more academies, more facilities for, you know, Africa to be able to practice anywhere, any country. Second, you know, give the opportunity to players to travel and pay for coaches and have all of that.
“I don’t believe in having all of that, like, handed away to players, because I believe that players should work hard enough to have these facilities, but most of the players they grew up not having enough money to pay for the coach or have enough facilities, and they grew up and they become stronger and become an amazing player.
“So I believe if they believe enough in themself, they can make it here. That’s the most important thing for me.”
Jabeur’s work to help African players is inspiring as she looks to continue to motivate development in the region by achieving more success in the future.
As for Roland Garros, Jabeur will play her second round match on Thursday where she will face Oceane Dodin.
