Ons Jabeur just loves to play tennis anytime, anywhere.
The fifth-ranked Tunisian and Wimbledon finalist is having a stellar 2022 season, making five quarterfinals (Sydney, Stuttgart, San Jose, Dubai, Doha), three finals (Charleston, Rome, Wimbledon) and winning titles in Madrid and Berlin.
Madrid, in fact, was the start of historic spring and summer swings: She was the first player from Tunisia and Africa to win a WTA 1000 event, and later created even more history by becoming the first Arab woman to reach a semifinal and final of a Grand Slam, which she achieved at Wimbledon.
Long before she reached the world's Top 10 and a career-high ranking of No. 2, Jabeur was inspirational to next generation—she was the first Arab junior to win a Grand Slam title in nearly 50 years when she won the girls' singles title at the 2011 French Open—but growing up, she says she couldn’t have imagined being where she is right now.
“I grew up playing in a tennis club where there was only four courts, and it's pretty small,” she said this week at the US Open, where she’s through to the fourth round for the first time in seven tries.
“Coming from Tunisia, it's not easy to believe that you can be here one day, but thankfully I made it happen. I struggled a lot with injuries, especially after the juniors. Having a game like mine, it's kind of tough, because I had to really adapt [to] changing the rhythm and everything. But [it’s] just part of the process. I feel like you should always have difficulties to be stronger and to be here one day and face the best tennis players in the world.”
Jabeur has already produced her best career result at the year’s final Grand Slam by making the fourth round for the first time. With a win against Veronika Kudermetova, she will reach her third career Grand Slam quarterfinal. Putting both past early exits at the US Open and this year's history-making achievements behind her, Jabeur says she's taking this fortnight as a learning opportunity.
“I'm just taking each match at a time, and hopefully will learn from other US Opens. I have a mission. I'm No. 5 in the world, so for me I'm trying to represent that number as much as I can,” Jabeur said.
“[I’m] just learning a lot from playing tournaments and how exhausting it could be mentally and physically to be in a Grand Slam. The French Open [loss in Round 1] was tough, especially after having great results in Madrid and Rome. I'm figuring this out. Every time someone wins before the Grand Slam, it's tough to do great results there.
"I'm just learning. This is my second, well, almost second year as a Top 10 player, and it's really just that I'm gonna cherish this and keep working hard. The good news is there is a lot of room to improve here.”
Each year, the US Open shines its brightest lights on the game's biggest stars and also emerging ones. As the old saying goes: "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." On the Big Apple's center stage, Jabeur hopes to keep inspiring those watching her from around the world, proving that no dream is too big.
“It feels really amazing,” Jabeur said. “I hope I can send a powerful message that if I made it here, everybody could make it here. Especially for women from different countries, especially from the Middle East, from the Arab world, I hope they can believe more in themselves and be here and play at any Grand Slam.
“Young girls, they come to me and they want to ask for advice. … If they ask me the question like five years ago, I would have said I don't know what, but now I feel like I have more experience I can share with them. It's nice because they look up to me, and they will take my advice. It's really nice.”
This tournament's already seen the evolution of Serena Williams—an icon who's known worldwide by just one name—away from tennis. On whether or not she's known as simply 'Ons' back home in Tunisia, Jabeur simply shrugs with a chuckle.
“I don't know. Maybe I am. I don't know,” Jabeur said. “See, what Serena achieved is unbelievable, and just having maybe 10% of what she did would be incredible for me.”
