Ons Jabeur digs deep to battle past Aryna Sabalenka into Wimbledon final
Earlier this year, long after her unforgettable trailblazing run to her maiden grand slam final, Ons Jabeur was forced to relive the joy, hope and eventual pain of that fortnight once more. As she and her husband, Karim, watched the episode of Netflix’s Break Point that chronicled her run, they both cried.
The wounds were still fresh, the pain still with her; she would have to return this year to win it all.
True to her word, Jabeur has found her way back to the Wimbledon final with an immense showing of grit and self-belief. After trailing the best player in the world this year by a set and 2-4, the Tunisian again dug into the depths of her spirit and found the strength to recover. Jabeur, the sixth seed, returned to the final with an incredible 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win over the world No 2, Aryna Sabalenka.
A year after becoming the first Arab player and the first African woman to reach a grand slam singles final, at Wimbledon, she will again play for her first major title as she faces Marketa Vondrousova in Saturday’s final. After also reaching last year’s US Open final, it will be the 28-year-old’s third grand slam final in the last five events.
“I’m very proud of myself because maybe old me would have lost the match and went back home already. I’m glad that I kept digging very deep and finding the strength,” said Jabeur.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, had arrived on Centre Court a win away from usurping Iga Swiatek to become the new world No 1. Instead she suffered a second grand slam semi-final collapse in two months after her brutal loss to Karolina Muchova at the French Open. “I’ll just keep working, keep pushing myself. Hopefully next time mentally I’ll be tougher in the semi-finals,” said Sabalenka.
While last year’s Wimbledon had presented a great opportunity for Jabeur, with her defeating no top 30 opponents en route to the final, she returned to the All England Club having been handed perhaps the toughest draw possible with three title fancies in her way.
After edging past Bianca Andreescu in three sets, Jabeur demolished an in-form Petra Kvitova, the two-time Wimbledon champion, in round four. Against Elena Rybakina, a quarter-final rematch of last year’s final, she played perhaps the best match of her life. Her reward for such a tough run was a fourth grand slam champion and the toughest of them all.
Still, Jabeur picked up where she left off, striking the ball smoothly while taking every opportunity to attack one of the biggest hitters in the world. She made Sabalenka so uncomfortable throughout the first set, steering her around the court with her forehand while constantly forcing the tall Belarusian to bend low and move forward in order to cope with her excellent slice.
Each time Sabalenka was under pressure in the first set, she responded. She found enormous serves at key moments, and hit herself out of trouble. After taking the tie-break from 2-4 down, Sabalenka held a 4-2 lead in the second set.
As she tried to retrieve the break, Jabeur’s desperation became increasingly clear. She continued to impose herself with her forehand, she found a groove on her return of serve and, under pressure, Sabalenka errors began to flow. From 2-4 down, Jabeur breezed through the final four games to force a third set.
“It was very difficult for me to return her serve,” said Jabeur. “Especially if she was mixing a lot. Even the speed was difficult. I was like: ‘Honestly, I’m not going to give a shit, I’m just going to go in and hit my return.’”
The momentum carried into the final set, with Jabeur serving brilliantly and playing clear-minded attacking tennis as she held comfortably before taking the decisive break after a long, tense game at 3-2. With the finish line suddenly in sight, Jabeur served out the match to clinch the biggest win of her career.
After starting the year with hopes of consolidating a breakout 2022 season in which she reached No 2, this had been a tough season for Jabeur with numerous injuries, including knee surgery, halting her progress. But still, even though she has been unable to perform at her top level at times, this season has followed the story of her career: her success has been a product of gradual, consistent growth for more than a decade.
“Maybe the injuries did slow me down and teach me to be patient and accept what’s going on,” she said.
Despite her two grand slam finals in the past 53 weeks, Jabeur has never played as well as she has over the past 11 days. The mental strength and fighting spirit she has shown in these intense, suffocating tussles against the best players in the world seems even greater than last year and those qualities have taken her transcendent talents to new levels. She will be the favourite to win her first grand slam title.
“I want to make my path worth it, winning [against] all these grand slam champions to be in the final,” she said. “Yeah, I’m going full in, and hopefully this time it will work.”