Ons Jabeur

Ons Jabeur reached her first grand slam final with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 victory against Tatjana Maria at Wimbledon on Thursday.

As the crowd applauded the two players, Jabeur dragged Maria back onto the court and gestured for the crowd to cheer her opponent. Coming back after having two babies -- I can't believe how she did it." I want to see more and more, not just Tunisian, but Arab and African players on tour.

With every win, World No.2 Ons Jabeur is rewriting tennis' record books. Here's what is at stake when she takes on Elena Rybakina in Saturday's Wimbledon ...

0: Arab or North African girls to win a junior Slam title before Ons Jabeur, who won the girls' title at Roland Garros in 2011. 17: Spots separating Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina on the Porsche Race to the WTA Finals, which only calculates points earned in the 2022 season. Svitolina; 2020 Dubai, l. Halep; 2020 St. Petersburg, l. Barty; 2020 Strasbourg, l. She made her tournament debut just last year. Unbeatable. @WTA @WTA_insider #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/hOnsFISDiz July 7, 2022 2: Wimbledon main draws that Elena Rybakina has played. 0: Tunisian, Arab or North African women to make a WTA semifinal before Ons Jabeur. 0: Tunisian, Arab or North African players to make a Slam semifinal in the Open Era before Ons Jabeur. 0: Tunisian, Arab or North African women to win a WTA title before Ons Jabeur. 0: Tunisian, Arab or African women to make a Slam final in the Open Era before Ons Jabeur.

Ons Jabeur is the first Arab woman and first African woman to make a Grand Slam final.

“I talk a lot about it’s nice to get out the feelings, all the stress,” she said. (The French Open, you know.) Then Thursday she got to a decisive set in a semifinal and roared to 5-0 with only one game going to deuce. “She’s number two in the world,” Maria said, “and she’s still the same person that she was many years ago.” Then the friendship and sportswomanship carried on because Jabeur got going about Maria: “If I didn’t see her two kids, I would say she never had the kids. “Yeah, I mean, it’s nice of them to call me that,” she said Thursday. “It’s really unbelievable. “It’s very important.” She spoke Thursday of childhood heroes Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Andy Roddick and of recent adviser Billie Jean King. I’m 34 years old with two kids and playing my first time semifinal in Wimbledon … Even with family, you can have a career and you can keep going.” “Yeah, I hope that I can send this message out,” Maria said, “that I have two kids and I’m on this stage. Jabeur joined that pantheon with a clever game that boasts the full toolbox of shots (all on display Thursday) and with an essence that made her something else: beloved. By age 9, Jabeur had moved an hour away with her family to Sousse, also on the coast, and the girl was telling people she aimed to win the French Open someday. “Tunisia is connected to the Arab world, is connected to the African continent. I want to see more players from my country, from the Middle East, from Africa. I think we didn’t believe enough at certain point that we can do it.

Jabeur, the first Arab or African woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open era, will face Elena Rybakina in Saturday's women's final.

Though her all-around athletic talent had coaches in other sports like soccer and team handball trying to lure her away, she stuck with tennis and left to train and study at a sports school in Tunis, the capital, at age 13. I feel for the players who couldn’t come here, but I’m just enjoying playing here on the biggest stage, enjoying my time and doing my best.” Rybakina, born in Moscow and long considered a promising Russian junior, began representing Kazakhstan four years ago while continuing to train regularly in Moscow. “Now tennis is like soccer in Tunisia, people are following my matches,” Jabeur said in a recent interview. She is very open in spirit and has a family who support her a lot. She remains deeply connected to the country. She clasped Maria by the wrist and pulled her back onto the court despite her protestations and pointed appreciatively in her direction to acknowledge Maria’s own unexpected journey to this semifinal as an unseeded 34-year-old mother of two young children. Maillard was not at this year’s French Open, where Jabeur, one of the favorites, was upset in the first round. She matured through effort and by questioning herself and searching constantly for better approaches and solutions. We did a great job, and we’ve come a long way.” “We see ourselves in Ons,” she continued. Let a tennis ball land near her feet, and her soccer juggling skills quickly become apparent, too.

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, right, gestures to Tatjana Maria to receive applause from the crowd after beating her in a Wimbledon women's singles semifinal match. ( ...

“I didn’t expect that I’m going to be here in the second week, especially in the final,” said Rybakina, 23. “But today I feel like I went back to my normal one. Last year, she was the first Arab player — woman or man — to crack the top 10 in rankings, first to win a WTA title and to make a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon. Before this, she had never advanced past the second round in any major championship. I just love the game and I want to share this experience with them.” I just try to inspire, really, as much as I can.

The women's Wimbledon final match is set. Ons Jabeur of Tunisia will face Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan after both were victorious Thursday.

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Jabeur, 27, made history at Wimbledon Thursday after she beat Germany's Tatjana Maria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to make it to women's finals.

Jabeur has broken records for Tunisia and her region for the past four years. Maria fought back and broke Jabeur for a 3-1 lead in the second set, which she went on to win. Jabeur won the opening set when Maria smacked a backhand long.

Whenever Ons Jabeur steps onto a tennis court, she never plays solely for herself, but for the future generations she hopes to inspire.

"But for me, I had to remind myself why I started playing tennis, what kind of joy tennis brings to me. I know I can do it." I want to see more players from my country, from the Middle East, from Africa." "I've played her a couple of times. "I did all of it. "In the area, we want to see more players.

During Ons Jabeur's historic run to the Wimbledon final, the Tunisian has been a firm crowd favourite. We talk to three fans about what she means for her ...

"I absolutely love Ons' skill with the drop shots and the variation," she said. Now she has fans from all over the world, not just Tunisia and the Arab world." And now getting the furthest she's ever got is just amazing for Tunisian women, Arab women but also all women everywhere. But this is the best tournament in the world, and she's putting Tunisia on the map. "When I met her the first time, I took a walk with her before she became famous. "I've been a fan since the first time she came to Wimbledon [in 2017]," he said.

The first African player to reach a major tennis final, she has set Wimbledon – and Tunisian hearts – ablaze.

In the process she gives visibility to Tunisia and a whole continent with it. Thanks to Jabeur, there is a growing interest in women’s sport and women athletes in Tunisia and across the Arab world. In May 2022 her win at the Madrid Open made her the first Tunisian, Arab and African player to win a WTA 1000 tournament. Jabeur had won, but her only concern was to hurry over and comfort Bencic and help prepare a cooler of ice cubes for her injury. In Tunisia, young and old, men and women, are increasingly tuning in to TV broadcasts to follow her matches live. The tennis star was born on 28 August 1994 in Ksar Hellal, a small town in Tunisia. She comes from a middle class family and has two brothers and a sister.

History will be made at Wimbledon on Saturday with Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina both attempting to win their maiden grand-slam title in the women's singles final. The duo had never made it beyond the quarter-finals of a major before this summer but ...

On the prospect of meeting Kate, Rybakina said: “For sure it’s an honour and I’m going to be very excited for this moment no matter if I win or lose. But last year, Melanie reminded me, my mental coach, I told her I’m coming back next year for the title, when I lost in the quarter-finals. “I just love everything around here, the atmosphere and everything. I just love it here.” “Now I need really to hold the trophy, that’s the only thing left for me, but I believe in that. Usually it was the first and second round.

Not long after Wimbledon began this year, it became clear that the greatest obstacle between Ons Jabeur and a first grand slam final was likely to be ...

Against such a great server, the challenge for Jabeur will also be to take care of her own service games. The contrast between the two is stark and Jabeur, 27, will bring her deep toolbox of shots and unpredictable patterns in order to disrupt her opponent’s rigid offence however she can. Even though Rybakina is facing a completely different type of opponent in Jabeur, she will approach the final no differently, looking to attack, shorten points and impose herself. Rybakina wants rallies over as quickly as possible and on her way through the tournament she has done an excellent job of executing her full-power tennis. As she stands at 6ft, the challenge for her opponents is to absorb her first strike and exploit her relative lack of athleticism, whether by forcing her to move or lengthening the points. If she is to lift her first grand slam title, Jabeur will have to unpick a completely different style compared with anything she has faced so far and it will be a formidable challenge.

There will be a new name on the women's trophy and a first-time grand slam champ on Saturday. The question is, will it be Ons Jabeur or Elena Rybakina?

It's more likely, though, that Jabeur finds a solution, soaks up the power and finds a way to win. As she said on the eve of Wimbledon: "I'm on a mission." It's entirely possible that Rybakina will come out firing, serving rockets, and blast Jabeur off the court. In fact, she has won a higher percentage of points on her second serve (63%) than any other woman these two weeks. Though Rybakina will bring the heat in terms of pure power, it appears Jabeur will have the skills to deal with it. The question is: Who will handle the occasion the best?

Ons Jabeur is the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam tennis final and a star in her homeland of Tunisia.

“The state should have commitments to a person like Ons, given the services rendered to the homeland and her contribution to giving a shining image of Tunisia,” he said. He said the symbolic title of “Minister of Happiness” used to describe Jabeur “is well deserved.” But he wants the government to give her a real title: He said Jabeur should be designated an official ambassador of Tunisia. TUNIS, Tunisia — Ons Jabeur — the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam tennis final — is such a star in her homeland that her father calls her “the daughter of all Tunisia” and the government wants to make her a special ambassador.

History was made at Wimbledon on Thursday, as Ons Jabeur became the first Arab player to reach a Grand Slam singles final.

She now goes into the final as the favorite for the title and will face off against Elena Rybakina, who will also be making history as the first Kazakhstani tennis player to make a major final. On Thursday, history was made at the Wimbledon Tennis Championship in England as the Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur became the first Arab woman — and first African woman in the Open Era — to make a grand slam final. Tunisia's Ons Jabeur becomes first Arab woman to make Wimbledon Final