Tunisian Ons Jabeur is in the final of the US Open. This Saturday, she will be opposed to Iga Świątek to try to put her name on the list of winners of the American tournament.
Tennis fans who thought that the final, at Wimbledon, of the Tunisian Ons Jabeur was an accident will have to make up their minds. Because the tenniswoman is now aiming for the US Open. After a one-sided match (6/1, 6/3), Ons Jabeur defeated Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia. In New York, two months after Wimbledon, the Tunisian can start dreaming of a Grand Slam title.
Ons Jabeur admits it: the Wimbledon final was almost a surprise. This time, there is no question of giving way to wonder: the champion wants to put her name on the list of winners of the US Open. “It's more real, to be honest with you. At Wimbledon, I was living a dream and I couldn't believe it", explains to L'Équipe the player who is aware of "having confirmed (her) result of Wimbledon and that people are not not surprised to see (her) in the final”.
Still, Ons Jabeur cannot fail on the last step, as was the case in London last July. “Maybe I know better what I have to do in the final now. I know it's going to be very difficult but I'm going to have to do my best, ”she announces. For this, he will have to “learn the lessons of all the finals” played this year, “and especially the last one, that of Wimbledon”
“My dream is to see more and more players from Africa playing”
The Tunisian knows why she sinned on the English turf… “There were a lot of emotions there. I came back well on the court and in the first set but the second set was hard”. This time, she feels the US Open final better. If, for her, "the most important thing is to have no regrets", to "give everything", nothing would be worth a title on American soil.
This would be symbolic: if an African has never reached the final of the tournament – or even the semi-finals, for that matter –, put her name on the list of winners of the US Open. To Africans, One Jabeur wanted to send a message during the quarter-finals. “I hope they're looking at me…I know how many kids want to be here,” she said. It's incredible ! They just have to believe in themselves and work hard enough to be here. My dream is to see more and more players from Africa playing.
This Ons Jabeur final is an opportunity to promote Africa in a Grand Slam tournament. But also to give tennis all its letters of nobility. Because tennis is far from football on the continent. French coach Jacques Hervet says, “I'm not sure that many children in Africa say to themselves in a dream: 'One day, I would like to win Wimbledon'. Tennis is not sufficiently anchored in the culture of the continent”.
Indeed, recalled Slate, in 2012 there were only eight Africans and four African women among the top 500 of the two world rankings. The Ons Jabeur final is therefore a feat. A victory would be even more so.