Forget power game, Jabeur spins to win
Her triumph ends Maria’s thrilling run
FROM Westminster to Wimbledon, it was quite the day for madness and spin. And it was quite the day for Ons Jabeur, too. Ons by name and on she goes, into the final of these Championships after one of those most delightfully quirky semi-finals in the tournament’s recent history.
If power was the vogue in the Williams era and for prolonged chunks since, then this was a match played in a charming slow-motion protest. It was about slices and angles, the drop shots and the lobs, all fused together by an imaginative blend of winners and mistakes that made for two gripping sets and an underwhelming decider. The shame in all that, aside from the one-sided nature of the third set, is that it brings to an end the magnificent charge of Tatjana Maria, the world No 103 whose story has been so captivating across the fortnight.
We know by now that she is a 34-year-old mother of two, who across more than 30 Slams had only once reached the third round and was ranked outside the top 250 in March of this year. We also know that after countless acts of resurrection in five previousrounds, she was pushing to become the first mother to win the singles here since 1980.
But it wasn’t to be. Instead, after fighting her way back from a set down against Jabeur, her great friend, it was the Tunisian third seed who found the higher gears, becoming the first African to reach a Slam final in the Open era.
There has long been a question about when the 27-year-old might translate the prodigious nature of her junior career and subsequent tour successes — two titles this year, 11 in all — to the bigger stages, and with her first final a huge opportunity awaits.
She will need to be tighter tomorrow against Elena Rybakina than she was in the semi-final, where she made 27 unforced errors. But in only dropping two sets in six matches, she arrives at speed. Jabeur said: ‘It is a dream coming true from years of sacrifice. Never give up, and believe always you can do it. I’m not going to lie to you, I maybe thought I was never going to make it or never going to make a Slam title or a Slam final.
‘Playing tennis is tough, sometimes when you play every week and maybe you lose every week. This is an amazing feeling.’
With Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer swapping one bonkers arena for another on Centre Court, the strange rhythms of this match kicked in early. Maria survived break points in her first service game but was broken twice in going down 6-2.
While that was a wide margin, their even split of a hefty 22 unforced errors pointed to chances for anyone who could gain a foothold.
Through a blitz of unorthodox shots — forehand slices from both, drop shots from close to the baseline by Jabeur, multiple exchanges of soft, angled volleys at the net — Maria found a way back, just as she had against Astra Sharma, Sorana Cirstea, Jelena Ostapenko and Jule Niemeier in the previous rounds, and she took the second set 6-3.
That offered potential for a classic but the German ran out of puff and was broken for 2-0 and it extended to 4-0 when Maria ballooned a smash. The gig was soon up, ending a brilliant run and an entertaining match.
When it was done, Jabeur addressed her beaten friend. ‘Tatjana has to make me a barbeque now for all the running she made me do,’ she said.
‘She is such an inspiration to so many including me, coming back after two babies. She is a beast. I hope to see her keep going like this.’