By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday January 8, 2024
Ons Jabeur's sadness over a heartbreaking loss in last year’s Wimbledon final was felt around the sporting world. There was much more to the sadness than losing a tennis match, reveals Jabeur in a new documentary about her, entitled “This is Me.”
According to Jabeur, who is a three-time Grand Slam finalist and the first Arab woman to ever hold a top 5 ranking or reach that far in a Grand Slam, she had planned to take time away from the sport to have a child with her husband and coach Karim Kamoun.
“People think I have this pressure because I wanted to [win a Grand Slam title] for others, which is not true. There was something personal going on (at Wimbledon). If I had won, I was going to try and have a baby right away. And that dream faded. I was haunted by fear. After all, I'm only human, what more can I do?” Jabeur said, adding: “It was the hardest loss of my career because emotionally it destroyed me. Not only winning Wimbledon, but the idea of having a baby disappeared when I lost.”
In the documentary, produced by TOD, Jabeur also reveals the nature of a scary injury that left her sidelined for five weeks early last season.
She needed surgery to replace an enlarged nodule that was preventing oxygen from reaching her lungs. She missed five weeks, but did not talk about the injury to reporters.
The Tunisian trailblazer’s trip to her second Wimbledon final came just four months after her return from that injury. She lost the final to Marketa Vondrousova, but vowed afterwards to continue chasing her dream of winning a major.
“It's painful because you feel so close to achieving something that you want, and actually back to square one. Again, just try to get rid of these negative thoughts and continue being positive,” she said.
Following its premiere on BeIN’s TOD, Jabeur’s documentary will be made available on various streaming platforms.
Jabeur, meanwhile, will take her place at next week’s Australian Open, with plans to continue inspiring fans and peers all around the world, and maybe a new plan for becoming a mother – when the time is right.