As a young girl growing up in Tunisia in the late 1990s, Ons Jabeur did not have the luxury of attending a big women’s tennis tournament in the Arab region – there simply weren’t any.
In 2001, the WTA events in Doha, Dubai and Morocco came to life and two years ago the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open was added to the mix, creating a three-week swing of elite-level women’s tennis taking place in the Gulf each February.
Rabat hosts a WTA 250 every May, Monastir has held an autumn tournament since 2022 and the WTA Finals have a home in Riyadh at the end of the season for at least two more years. That’s six WTA events staged in the Mena region.
Jabeur – the highest-ranked Arab or African woman in tennis history – never imagined her beloved sport would reach this point in the region. She enters this week’s Abu Dhabi Open keen to inspire the young people watching from the stands.
“It’s definitely the biggest and most important part of the tour for me – three consecutive tournaments in the Middle East. If you asked me a long time ago, I would tell you it was very difficult [to imagine],” Jabeur told The National ahead of this week's event.
“Even when I wasn’t ranked very high, I always looked forward to play Doha and Dubai, so now to add Abu Dhabi to it, I think it’s amazing for the Arab world to have more tournaments to inspire more and more the younger generation.
“It’s not the same as watching from TV, to have the chance to come here is huge. I always hear the other players say, ‘When I was young, I went to the US Open’, and the other has a picture from Wimbledon. And me, I don’t have any picture from any other tournament [when I was young] and I never had the dream to play one of the Grand Slams.
“The only one, maybe, was the French Open, because I heard about it, you know? So, I feel like now the younger generation can create memories and have that for the future.”
Jabeur will open her Abu Dhabi campaign against former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday and is hoping to build on her promising start to the season in Australia following a four-month break from the tour nursing a shoulder injury.
In her first on-court appearances since August, Jabeur reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane, the round of 16 in Adelaide and the third round at the Australian Open last month.
At the Australian Open, Jabeur was one of five Arab players featuring in the main draw across singles and doubles, with Egypt’s Mayar Sherif joining her in women’s singles, Lebanon’s Hady Habib and Tunisia’s Aziz Dougaz in men’s singles, and Tunisian Skander Mansouri competing in men’s doubles.
“I’m very happy for them. I was cheering so bad for Aziz and for Hady to qualify. And I was also wishing for them to have a better draw in the main draw,” said Jabeur.
“It was nice to see Hady also playing so well, Aziz having the confidence to come and play the main draw. I know it’s their dream to play there and hopefully do better in the future but I definitely see the future very bright.
“There was also another Lebanese [Benjamin Hassan] who lost to Aziz as well in qualies. So it was truly nice to see more and more players from the region and hopefully we can see more Arab players on tour. It gives me so much hope and hopefully we can improve a lot of different things in the Arab world.”
Jabeur was pleased with her level in Australia on her return from an extended break, which she says helped both mentally and physically. Besides giving time for her shoulder to heal, her hiatus also helped reinvigorate her motivation and get back to enjoying herself on the court.
“It was nice to see that the level is back. I know there is a big margin to evolve and do better for sure. But I’m definitely enjoying my time and I’m trying to correct a lot of things and discover, maybe, a new me on court,” she added.
Stepping away from the tour is never an easy decision, and it’s one Jabeur did not take lightly.
“I think there are a lot of things in question for the player, personally. I don’t think anything will change on tour specifically [while you’re away]. But you know we have commitments with our sponsors, we have commitments with our ranking, so I think that’s the question,” she explained.
“For me, it was honestly the right move because at a certain time, I should have stopped earlier. I wasn’t playing really well and I wasn’t able to play. I was questioning myself and probably blaming my mental abilities to compete and at a certain time I was like, I don’t think I can play anymore, I need to really take the time off and it was a smart decision.”
From a tennis perspective, Australia was a positive start for Jabeur, but it did not come without its struggles. The Tunisian world No 33 suffered some breathing issues in Melbourne and has yet to get to the bottom of the problem.
Jabeur had to undergo surgery to remove nodules from her airways two years ago but says this current issue doesn’t seem to be related.
“Sometimes it’s more annoying and it makes me angry because I try to come back and I’m not having any physical injuries and these breathing things happen and it doesn’t help me much with my tennis,” she admits.
“But I felt like I tried to manage it well, especially in the match against Camila Osorio [in the second round]. But it’s pretty annoying to play with this. I feel much better now, maybe the conditions here are better. But hopefully I can work on it and be better in the future. But right now it’s much better.”
At age 30, Jabeur is considered a tour veteran. The three-time Grand Slam finalist ended four consecutive seasons ranked inside the top 10 (from 2021 to 2024) and is hoping she can fight her way back now that her injuries are behind her.
Her versatile game has helped her reach a career-high No 2 in the world but she knows she has to keep reinventing herself to compete at the highest level.
“I think everybody knows me on tour, pretty much, and they know how to play me. So I think it’s good to change things up a little bit, to add some stuff to my game,” said Jabeur.
“You cannot be the same player from two years ago until now. You need to have more things in your game to change it up a little bit.
“I’m going more to the net, which I wasn’t doing before. I’m not mastering it 100 per cent but I think I’m there, I have a good volley. I see myself putting pressure. And with the type of game that I’m putting in, I think it will help me a lot.
“I’m trying to be more focused on specific things and I think that kind of mentality really helps you be there on the court, be less tough with myself. I know I’ve been a little bit tough with myself in the past years so maybe that’s why I wasn’t enjoying tennis much at a certain time.”
Jabeur is a firm believer in working on her psychology and mentality to improve her performance and she continues to explore new ways to achieve that.
At the Australian Open, Madison Keys enjoyed a breakthrough run to the title at the age of 29, ending her long quest for a maiden Grand Slam trophy.
Keys said in Melbourne that it wasn’t until she let go of the idea of winning a major and accepting her career would still be good enough without one that she finally managed to become a Grand Slam champion.
Jabeur, who is a few months older than Keys, understands that philosophy but admits to struggling to get into that frame of mind.
“It is very tough. It’s easier said than done, not to be obsessed with the Grand Slam. But in life in general, if you’re obsessed with something, I think it would never happen to you,” she said.
“I’m in the way of accepting if I don’t win a Grand Slam in my life, I would be very happy with my career. I know I am happy with my career, what I’ve done so far is amazing. But you always have the athlete, that champion in you, to target more and more.
“And I think everybody is different. If you let go sometimes, you just let go and maybe you don’t have any motivation. But sometimes you need to let go from that side to be able to lift the trophy that you wanted.
“For me right now I’m taking it one step at a time. I’m trying to enjoy tennis more because at a certain time I wasn’t enjoying it much, it was very tough mentally for me. And I’m trying to work on new aspects, to try to improve in different aspects in tennis and that will help me.
“I truly believe in destiny, if it’s written out there that I’m going to win a Grand Slam, it will happen no matter what. I’m putting in the hard work, so let’s see how my career will turn out.”
