By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday July 15, 2023
When Ons Jabeur gets to her tennis she arrives at a free-flowing, instinctive, artistic place. It’s beautiful, and it feels like the lines of the court and the score are secondary to the poetry of her tennis improv.
Sadly, Jabeur didn’t get there in Saturday's Wimbledon final. There’s no shame in that – but a lot of pain.
Pain, which was expressed during a particularly emotional runner-up speech, and again in her post-match press conference, the Tunisian trailblazer fresh from a crying session with legend Kim Clijsters, one of the few people in the world who truly knows how Jabeur feels.
Clijsters famously lost her first four Grand Slam finals, and recovered to win her final four, finishing with a 4-4 record in major finals. Jabeur, now 0-3 major finals, owns the dubious distinction of being the eighth woman in Open Era history to have lost each of her first three major finals.
To have Clijsters there to offer a kind word sounds like a key development in the fairy tale that ends with Jabeur winning her maiden Wimbledon title next year. Calling all (striking) Hollywood script writers...
“We were crying together in the locker room,” Jabeur, tissues in hand, told reporters as she sat at the podium. “I love Kim so much. She's a great inspiration for me. I grew up watching her a bit. The fact that she takes the time to give me advice and to really hug me, always be there for me, I think it's priceless.”
Clisters’ advice comes as bitter consolation for a woman who entered Saturday’s Wimbledon final with Vondrousova as the heavy favorite and the people’s choice. Woman of destina, she had just rolled over four former Grand Slam finalists and three Top-10 players to reach her second consecutive Wimbledon final.
Nothing against Vondrousova, who is a freaky good tennis player and a charming off-court personality when she opens up, but the tennis loving public has been resonating with Jabeur’s rise to relevance for two years. The Tunisian's tale is a story that we have invested – and believed – in for a while. We’ve been captivated as Jabeur has proudly served as a beacon for her country, North Africa the Arab world, and sporting women in general.
Jabeur is also ridiculously warm-hearted and lovable that we just can’t help rooting for her. As a personality - a genuine, articulate and funny as heck character - Jabeur never stops delivering.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with her tennis on Centre Court today. She was blocked, operating out of sequence or, as they saying goes: ALL UP IN HER HEAD. Still, we must take time to praise unwavering Vondrousova for handling the moment as she improbably became the first unseeded women’s singles champion in Wimbledon’s Open Era history.
Her calm, juxtaposed with Jabeur's chaos, was the hero of this contest.
Jabeur praised Vondrousova for playing the perfect match on Saturday, and she was spot on with her analysis. It’s a shame that in this case the perfect match for the Czech was all too simple to execute. She recognized that if she stayed within herself and hit her targets the title could be hers.
Meanwhile, the Tunisian didn’t stay between the lines long enough to force Vondrousova into any other tactic. The 28-year-old was a shell of her very best self, the moment too heavy even for her broad shoulders – at least for now.
“I felt I was doing everything right. Again, with the same thing that happened last year,” she said. “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.”
Jabeur led 4-2 in the first set and 3-1 in the second set and yet both sets seemed lopsided in Vondrousova’s favor. It was a strange match in that way.
Having the roof closed due to the prospect of rain and high winds was a wrinkle, as was the fact that Jabeur’s last three matches at Wimbledon were against hard-hitting righties, while Saturday’s affair was against the complete opposite: a left-handed disruptor who is hard to read, tricky as heck and gives no pace or rhythm.
Whatever the reason, it was clear that Jabeur was not able to “get to her tennis.” 31 unforced errors (a copious amount from the backhand side) and 14 of 29 first-serve points won tell that story.
“I didn't think I played good today,” Jabeur admitted. “So many things that I should have maybe done. Not serving well did not help. Also Marketa returns every ball. Even if I did a good serve, she was there. That didn't help my serve much.
“My backhand wasn't here today. Again, I think playing two different players the last few matches did not help, too.”
Jabeur fans, do not fear. There is light at the end of this tunnel. The Tunisian's dark day will give us another chance to see what she is made of as a player. Jabeur has come so far, and has stood perched on the precipice of Wimbledon glory in each of the last two seasons.
Throw in last year’s US Open final, where she again proved that she is world-class on any surface, and we get the picture: pain is in the forecast for the next few days for Ons Jabeur. You could see that in her eyes as she gave her press conference.
But what happens next; the soul search, the growth and the rising above, could be the greatest chapter of an already mind-blowing career.