Moments after missing out on the Wimbledon title for a second year running, Ons Jabeur revealed that a former Grand Slam champion came to speak with her.
Jabeur, who was seeking to become the first African woman in history to win a Grand Slam title, fell in straight sets to Marketa Vondrousova. A player ranked more than 30 places lower than her who had only ever won two Tour-level matches on the grass before this year. It was a case of deja vu for the Tunisian who also lost the 2022 final to a lower-ranked opponent, Elena Rybakina.
Overall, Jabeur has now had to settle for runner-up on three occasions at major events but admitted that her latest defeat is the one which hurt her the most. Given the circumstance, perhaps the best person to console the tennis star is somebody who had been in a similar situation.
Fortunately for her, Kim Clijsters came to her rescue. The Belgian former world No.1 lost her first four Grand Slam finals between 2001-2005 before triumphing. She eventually went on to win the US Open three times and the Australian Open once.
“We were crying together in the locker room,” Jabeur said during her press conference.
“I love Kim so much. She’s a great inspiration to me. I grew up watching her a bit.’
“The fact that she takes the time to give me advice and to hug me, always be there for me, I think it’s priceless.”
“That’s the positive out of it. You cannot force things. It wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t meant to be.”
The 28-year-old said Vondrousova ‘played the right match’ to beat her on Center Court. Although she was far from satisfied with her performance which featured 31 unforced errors and she won less than 50% of her service points.
“I didn’t think I played good today,” she said. “There were so many things that I should have done and not serving well did not help.’
“Marketa returns every ball. Even if I did a good serve, she was there. That didn’t help my serve much.’
“My backhand wasn’t there. Also, I think playing two different players the last few matches did not help.”
Looking at the positive side to her Wimbledon campaign, she did manage to score three wins over top 10 players which is something that was last done at the tournament back in 2012 by Serena Williams. Furthermore, she has now reached the final of three out of the last major tournaments.
Looking at the bigger picture, Jabeur sees her tennis as a work in progress as she eyes to win not one but multiple major titles before retirement.
“My goal is to be a good and consistent player Whenever it’s going to come. I will learn from this match and I want to be one of the players that could win Grand Slams, not just one.” She concluded.
Jabeur will remain in sixth palace when the WTA rankings are updated on Monday which is four places ahead of Vondrousova.
