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Ons Jabeur reveals the turning point of her career happened in 2019 when she got fed up with losing to the top players and determinedly said enough was enough.
Since then, a lot has changed in Jabeur's game and career as the Tunisian is now widely recognized as one of the best players in the game. Over the last few years, Jabeur's success has been a historic one, considering that she now owns some of the biggest records in Tunisian and Arab tennis history.
After winning her first WTA title on the grass courts of Birmingham in 2021 June, Jabeur also broke into the top-10 for the first time in her career later that year. Since then, Jabeur has won four more WTA titles - including a WTA 1000 title in 2022 Madrid - has made three Grand Slam finals - and has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world.
“For me, there was a certain turning point in 2019, I was playing good, I had a good ranking around 50 or 30 and I looked at my coach and I was like, 'I'm sick of losing against top 10 players even though I know that I can be a top 10 player. I've beaten them so many times, and I believe my level is there,'” Jabeur told host Reem Abulleil on the Abtal podcast.
In the first episode of my new podcast series Abtal, the highest-ranked Arab women in tennis history, Ons Jabeur and Mayar Sherif, are interviewed together for the very first time.
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) January 29, 2024
Loved everything about this conversation.
Hope you enjoy it! https://t.co/ifdXn2LeP7
Jabeur on her Grand Slam turning point
On the podcast, Jabeur said that she started noticing changes as soon as she changed her mindset and started setting higher goals. In 2020 January, Jabeur reached the Australian Open round-of-16 before losing to eventual champion Sofia Kenin.
That was only the beginning for Jabeur, who made back-to-back Wimbledon finals in 2022 and 2023, as well as made the 2022 US Open final.
"The turning point was when I made the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, the first time I went deep into the second week. That was a changing point, and the moment, I decided 'enough is enough,' many things changed for me,” Jabeur said.
After losing to Elena Rybakina in the 2022 Wimbledon final, Jabeur also lost to Marketa Vondrousova in last year's Wimbledon final. When it comes to the 2022 US Open final, Jabeur was beaten by Iga Swiatek there.
Since a devastating loss to Vondrousova in the 2023 Wimbledon final, Jabeur has underlined several times that winning a Grand Slam before retiring remains her biggest goal.