WIMBLEDON, England — Ons Jabeur used a tissue to wipe away tears as she walked to her post-match information convention 1 1/2 hours after falling to 0-3 in Grand Slam finals by arising brief towards Marketa Vondrousova within the Wimbledon last Saturday.
Jabeur referred to as it “the most painful loss of my career,” and was grateful for the consoling embrace she acquired from Kate, the Princess of Wales, throughout the trophy presentation at Centre Court — “Hugs are always welcome,” the 28-year-old Tunisian mentioned — and the comforting phrases she heard later from Kim Clijsters, the International Tennis Hall of Fame member who was defeated in her first 4 main finals earlier than profitable the following 4.
The 6-4, 6-4 setback towards Vondrousova, the primary unseeded lady to win Wimbledon, adopted Jabeur’s losses to Elena Rybakina within the last on the All England Club final July and to Iga Swiatek within the last on the U.S. Open final September.
“You cannot force things. It wasn’t meant to be,” mentioned Jabeur, the one Arab lady and solely North African lady to make it to the final spherical in singles at any main match. “Hopefully I will be like the others that failed a couple of times … and it will come after.”
Her day began awkwardly: Jabeur confirmed as much as the principle stadium to heat up earlier than the match carrying black garments, which is towards the All England Club’s guidelines requiring white apparel on the competitors courts.
So she needed to interrupt that hitting session to go change.
“It was just an honest mistake,” she mentioned.
Jabeur was seeded sixth at Wimbledon and beat 4 previous Grand Slam champions alongside the best way to Saturday, together with Rybakina.
But Jabeur mentioned she was too tense towards Vondrousova, and the statistics appeared to bear that out.
She didn’t serve properly: Only 48% of her first serves landed in and she or he was damaged a half-dozen instances.
She didn’t hit her backhand properly: Her 17 unforced errors on that stroke alone had been greater than Vondrousova’s 13 whole errors.
In all, Jabeur made 31 unforced errors.
No matter how a lot she tried to calm down by taking deep breaths, regardless of how a lot she tried to settle down with little chats to herself, it didn’t remedy the issue.
“It’s painful,” she mentioned, “because you feel so close to achieving something that you want, and actually (now go) back to square one.”
Jabeur took a 4-2 lead within the first set, solely to drop 16 of the following 18 factors.
Then she went forward 3-1 and 4-3 within the second set however once more let that edge disappear.
Popular with different gamers and amongst followers of the game, Jabeur heard the louder backing from the stands for a lot of the match — one thing Vondrousova mentioned she anticipated.
“I feel like everybody likes Ons. I do, too. So I mean you have to be prepared for it,” mentioned Vondrousova, a 24-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic who had misplaced her solely earlier main last, on the 2019 French Open.
“Many people are looking up to her and they want her to have the Grand Slam so bad,” Vondrousova mentioned. “And I feel like she’s going to do it one day. She’s such an amazing person, and I think she has many more to come.”
Now Jabeur will regroup and take a look at to determine tips on how to get again to crucial match at her sport’s most vital occasions.
She has established herself as probably the greatest gamers in girls’s tennis, reaching three of the previous 5 main finals.
And her 28 wins on grass over the previous three seasons had been essentially the most by anybody since Maria Sharapova picked up 30 victories from 2004-06, a stretch that included a Wimbledon title.
“Will definitely keep learning, keep being positive. I think that’s the thing that will keep me going,” Jabeur mentioned. “Otherwise, if I’m going to be depressed about it, it’s not going to help much.”
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