WIMBLEDON, July 7: Ons Jabeur’s steady progress from year to year – up the tennis rankings, through the draws of various tournaments and, now, at Wimbledon – has carried her to a Grand Slam singles final, the first African woman and Arab woman to make it that far in the professional era.
The No. 3-seeded Jabeur, a 27-year-old from Tunisia, got past her good friend Tatjana Maria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in an up-and-down semifinal at a sun-splashed Centre Court on Thursday.
“I want to go bigger, inspire many more generations. 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,” said Jabeur, who sat on her sideline chair and threw her head back after the biggest victory of her career. “We didn’t believe enough, at a certain point, that we can do it. Now I’m just trying to show (we can). Hopefully people are getting inspired.”
On Saturday, she will face another player making her major final debut, No. 17 seed Elena Rybakina, for the championship. Rybakina, a 23-year-old from Kazakhstan, overwhelmed 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3 in the second semifinal.
“I already did a lot,” Rybakina said, “and it’s just time to enjoy.”
After a surprising first-round loss at the French Open in May, Jabeur is on quite a run: She has won 11 consecutive matches, all on grass courts, and 22 of her past 24. Since pro players were first admitted to major tennis tournaments in 1968, never had an African woman or Arab woman been to a Slam final.
Jabeur has been rising in the tennis world in recent seasons. In 2020, at the Australian Open, she became the first Arab woman to reach the quarterfinals at a major. Last year produced all sorts of milestones: first Arab player to break into the top 10 of the men’s or women’s rankings; first Arab to win a WTA title; a quarterfinal at Wimbledon.
Now she’s done that two steps better. When their semifinal ended, she and Maria – a 34-year-old mother of two from Germany who is ranked 103th – met at the net for an extended hug. Jabeur whispered something in her pal’s ear.
Then, after depositing her racket on the sideline, Jabeur returned to the middle of the court for the usual victor’s wave to the crowd – except, instead of going alone, she playfully tugged Maria, an uncommon gesture, and encouraged the spectators to salute the player on the wrong end of the scoreline.
Rybakina, never beyond a major quarterfinal until now, leads the tour in aces this year and added five to her total Thursday. More surprising was the way Halep never got going.
Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon with injury
Rafael Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon on Thursday because of a torn abdominal muscle, announcing his decision a day before he was supposed to play in the semifinals.
“Unfortunately, as you can imagine, if I am here, it’s because I have to pull out from the tournament,” Nadal said during a news conference at the All England Club.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion was scheduled to face Nick Kyrgios for a berth in the final on Friday.
Kyrgios advanced to his first final at a major tournament. He will meet either Novak Djokovic or Cam Norrie for the championship on Sunday. (AP)
