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Pro tennis has a set of cliche's, among them that if you don't make a big showing by your early 20s, you're not going to make it big.
Ons Jabeur, subject of this month's TPN Tour Portrait, breaks that mold.
Click for the album: https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...te/ons_jabeur/
She grew up in a small town in Tunisia, playing tennis on hotel courts -- not in an expensive tennis camp in Spain or Germany. She began playing the ITF circuit at only 14 years old but labored largely in obscurity. Finally, she made the top 100 in 2017 only to fall out again.
Then, she decided to make a big push at 26-28 years old -- culminating in making two major finals in 2022 and reaching number 2 in the world.. Jabeur had a number of firsts then: The first woman representing an African county, first Arab woman, or North African person to make a Wimbledon final.
Her game centers on change of place, hitting slice forehands, drop shots from tough positions, but she can also pop the ball. At the US Open, she countered Caroline Garcia's aggressive return position by simply hitting the sidelines with her serve. Repeatedly. Try doing that for 12 service games.
Ons draws an audience of Tunisian supporters like the ones that filled this match (my photo here) at San Jose with typical soccer cheers, mixing French and Arabic. She's one of the most popular players on tour.
The Tunisian flag flies behind Ons as she goes airborne to attack a midcourt ball. My photo from San Jose's MSVC last August (c)jfawcette
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Ons Jabeur, subject of this month's TPN Tour Portrait, breaks that mold.
Click for the album: https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...te/ons_jabeur/
She grew up in a small town in Tunisia, playing tennis on hotel courts -- not in an expensive tennis camp in Spain or Germany. She began playing the ITF circuit at only 14 years old but labored largely in obscurity. Finally, she made the top 100 in 2017 only to fall out again.
Then, she decided to make a big push at 26-28 years old -- culminating in making two major finals in 2022 and reaching number 2 in the world.. Jabeur had a number of firsts then: The first woman representing an African county, first Arab woman, or North African person to make a Wimbledon final.
Her game centers on change of place, hitting slice forehands, drop shots from tough positions, but she can also pop the ball. At the US Open, she countered Caroline Garcia's aggressive return position by simply hitting the sidelines with her serve. Repeatedly. Try doing that for 12 service games.
Ons draws an audience of Tunisian supporters like the ones that filled this match (my photo here) at San Jose with typical soccer cheers, mixing French and Arabic. She's one of the most popular players on tour.
The Tunisian flag flies behind Ons as she goes airborne to attack a midcourt ball. My photo from San Jose's MSVC last August (c)jfawcette
filedata/fetch?id=99173&d=1670017712&type=thumb
#
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