Jabeur expects to reap rich rewards this season
Chief Reporter
Ons Jabeur is hoping her renewed mental approach will help her in achieving better results on the WTA Tour.
Jabeur, enjoying a career-high ranking of No 45 after becoming the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinals, has adopted a few changes in her career. One among them is the change in coaching staff, bringing in Tunisian Davis Cup player Essam Jalali as her coach along with US-based Moroccan Othmane Garma. But the most significant change is her mental approach.
“I expect to play good and prove myself against good players. Sometimes the mind is not in the right place,” Jabeur told media after defeating American Alison Riske on Monday. “If I’m really good in my mind, then I have a good motivation, then the results can be good. I learned a lot from last year definitely,” she added.
The changes have ushered in a significant alteration on the performance curve. She played all four Grand Slam main draws for the first time in 2019, while also staying in the top-100 the entire year.
Jabeur’s big breakthrough came in January at the 2020 Australian Open where she defeated Johanna Konta and Caroline Garcia in the first two rounds before battling former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in three sets in the Polish girl’s last match of her career. Jabeur then defeated a fourth top-50 player in succession in Wang Qiang before going down to ultimate champion Sofia Kenin in the quarter-finals.
“Coming to 2020 I have set big goals like I said before. I think even mentally I’m ready to play in the big fields,” she related.
Jabeur’s next opponent today will be top seed and 2015 champion Simona Halep. “I was really pumped from the beginning. This is the second time I’m going to play her,” Jabeur said.