Ons Jabeur is a great baseline player. Thanks to her powerful shotmaking, she has reached the top of women’s tennis in the last three years. She has no problem changing the rhythm of a rally by using her slice or hitting a drop shot.
This playstyle is very physically challenging and that’s where Jabeur comes up short sometimes. In marathon matches she’s often the first one to start keeping the rallies short which leads to more unforced errors.
A great example of this is the final of the 2021 Madrid Open where Jabeur won her biggest title so far. By looking at the scoreline (7-5, 0-6, 6-2) the first question that comes to most people’s mind is what happened in that second set.
Well, the answer is very simple: Ons wanted points to end too quickly and that worked to her disadvantage. Luckily for her, she regrouped in the third set and ultimately got the better of Jessica Pegula and became the first African winner of a WTA-1000 event.
Ons Jabeur is known as a player with “good hands”
Some say her drop shots, net play, lobs, and overall ability to change the rhythm of a match and move her opponent around the court make her the player with the best hands on the women’s tour.
One point that is engraved in the collective memory of the Ons Jabeur fandom is her tweener against Belinda Bencic in the final of the Charleston tournament. Jabeur went on to take the title, winning her 4th WTA tournament.
Jabeur is also a very flexible player and always manages to adapt really well to any surface.
She has a great win rate of 72 percent on clay and an even more impressive 75 percent on grass.
On hardcourts, Jabeur seems to have more difficulties with a 58 percent win rate. Although she has shown some great things at the US Open and the Australian Open. Jabeur also won her first hardcourt title in China 2023.
Jabeur was born in Tunisia in 1994. Her mother introduced her to the game of tennis when she was three years old. When Jabeur was twelve years old, she moved to the capital city of Tunis and joined the Lycée Sportif El Menzah, a national sports high school aimed at developing young athletes in the country. She continued her training at the school for several years.
When she was 16, she started training more in Europe, especially in Belgium and France. Jabeur has always been very thankful to her parents and has said in interviews that a big part of her success comes from the sacrifices her parents made for her.
“My mom used to drive me everywhere around Tunisia to go play tournaments and encouraged me to go to a special school to study. That was a big sacrifice to see her little girl going for a dream that wasn’t 100% guaranteed. She believed in me and gave me the confidence to be there.”
She reached her first success on the ITF junior tour in a doubles tournament in Lebanon. But despite having a playstyle that would be great for doubles Jabeur is not very active in this part of the tour. After winning the doubles title at the ITF tournament in Casablanca (2010) with Slovak player Katarína Baranová, Jabeur did not play a significant role in doubles for a long time.
However, in February 2019, she reached the semifinals at the WTA tournament in Doha, partnering with American player Alison Riske.
In 2009 Jabeur took her first steps in junior Grand Slams. A year later she started producing her first strong results in the junior grand slams. She was the runner-up in the Roland Garros final losing against Elina Svitolina.
She ended her junior career in 2011 after playing Wimbledon and Roland Garros. At Roland Garros, she became the first North African Woman to win a junior grand slam tournament. Ons Jabeur officially turned prop in 2010 when she was 16 years old.
In 2017 Jabeur started competing regularly in the women’s grand slams.
Two years later she appeared in the main draw of all four grand slams thanks to her top 100 spot which she was able to keep consistently from then.
In 2018 Ons Jabeur reached her first final in a WTA tournament in Moskou where she lost against home favorite Daria Kasaktina.
Jabeur had her Breakthrough moment in 2020. At the Australian Open she defeated Johanna Konta and Caroline Garcia in the first two rounds she also went on to beat Caroline Wozniacki in three sets in what was, at the time, going to be the last match of Wozniacki’s career.
In the end, Jabeur lost her quarterfinal match against the winner of the tournament: Sofia Kenin.
The WTA tournament of Birmingham in 2021 was her first title as a professional tennis player. In the next few years, four more titles followed.
On a Grand Slam level, her best results are three runner-up spots. Two at Wimbledon and one at the US Open.
Jabeur is currently ranked sixth in the world and reached second place, her career high, in 2022.
Ons Jabeur is known as a kind and humble sportswoman. She always makes sure to take time to meet with fans and on top of that, on court her playstyle is fun to watch. The biggest advantage of being a Jabeur fan is that she can be a threat on any surface so she has a chance to make deep runs in every tournament she appears in.
Her character and style make her a great ambassador for the game.
This definitely gives her a Federer-esque vibe. Besides, she also uses the Wilson Pro Staff 97 v13 just like the Swiss maestro used to. And yes, these are big words to use for someone who hasn’t managed to win a grand slam title yet. But at 29 years old, Jabeur still has plenty of chances.
Being one of the first African players to make it this far on the WTA tour is also something a lot of tennis fans admire her for. If someone is going to be the first woman to bring a grand slam trophy to the African continent it seems like it should be her.
Unfortunately, those big expectations put a lot of pressure on Jabeur’s shoulders. However, she has always said in interviews that she mostly takes a lot of strength out of the idea that a whole continent is cheering her on in every match she plays.
Ons Jabeur is still one of the favorites in every grand slam she attends. She is a dangerous opponent on any surface and on a good day she can beat any opponent she faces.
She hasn’t won a slam yet but with the level she is currently showing and looking at her recent results in the grand slams in the last few years, it seems it’s only a matter of time before she writes history for her country and continent.
She didn’t hide the fact that she was nervous in her past Slam finals.
But in the future, having been on those stages is only going to help her more.
Sometimes it seems on the WTA tour anyone can beat anyone on the highest level. This is something that might one day play out to Jabeur’s advantage in a Grand Slam. But in the last few years players like Sabalenka, Rybakina, Swiatek, and more recently, Gauff have brought more consistency to the WTA tour.
So it’s not going to get any easier for Ons Jabeur.
Either way, Jabeur definitely has everything to become the first female African grand slam winner and she will for sure end her career with a couple more WTA titles. This would make her a bit of a late bloomer because at the age of 29 Ons Jabeur’s biggest achievement is still “only” one Masters 1000 title.
Jabeur stands out as a likable player. She adds an entertaining touch to the WTA tour and her playing style is truly a breath of fresh air
Not only is she loved for being an incredible athlete, but her off-court persona is great too.
Jabeur is known for her friendly and grounded nature. She is a personable athlete who connects with audiences, making her a favorite not just for her game but also for her engaging personality.
It’s almost certain that she will win several more WTA titles before retiring. Yet the biggest fear of every tennis fan is to see her ending up in the list of greatest players to never win a Slam. It would be an incredible shame to see such a talented player without a single title on the very biggest stage.
