WIMBLEDON, England — In Tunisia, her home nation and inspiration, Ons Jabert earned the nickname “The Minister of Happiness.”
Although there were plenty of dark and downbeat moments on her rare and winding road to Saturday’s Wimbledon singles final, she was spreading joy around the All England Club on Thursday.
Up on Henman Hill, the Guizanis, a Tunisian family living in London, cheered from their picnic blanket on the sloping lawn as Jabert beat Tatiana Maria of Germany 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to become the first Arab or An African woman reached a Grand Slam singles final in the Open era that began in 1968.
“It’s very important for women to be successful, to play sports,” said Ibtisem Guizani, who attended Wimbledon for the first time with her husband Zuhair and their 4-year-old son and wore red in honor of Jaber and Tunis.
“See you at Ons,” she continued. “And she makes us proud of her and us.”
Second-ranked Jabeur and 103rd-ranked Maria had used the entire spectacular canvas in their semi-final match on Center Court: They ventured often into the lush, underused forecourt grass as they sliced approaches and drove to the net; hit overhead; or caressed dexterous volleys.
It was old school, but it’s hardly gone, and the crowd responded with roars and murmurs, not only because of their element of surprise and novelty, but also because of their effect.
Jabeur, in particular, enjoys exploring the range of shot-making options in a way reminiscent of Roger Federer, to whom she has been compared since the age of 12. Like Federer, Jabert doesn’t just play the ball. She plays with it, not just her strings. Let a tennis ball land near her feet and her soccer juggling skills will also quickly become apparent.
She is an artist who could soon become a Grand Slam champion if she can overcome Elena Rybakina in Saturday’s final, but she was not so caught up in her victory on Thursday that she forgot about Maria, her good friend.
Moments after Jabeur’s win, she insisted on sharing the spotlight instead of taking the normal approach of greeting the crowd herself. She grabbed Maria’s wrist and pulled her back onto the court despite her protests, and pointed appreciatively at her to acknowledge Maria’s own unexpected journey to this semi-final as an unplaced 34-year-old mother of two young children.
“She’s such an inspiration to so many people, myself included, coming back after two babies,” Jaber said. “I still can’t believe how you did it.”
Jaber, 27, works hard to believe in herself. She came from a country and region that has produced some professional players – including Selima Sfar, a Tunisian who reached 75 in the rankings in 2001 – but has never produced talent capable of competing for the biggest prizes.
Jabert has worked with sports psychologists since her teenage years and has developed a particularly fruitful relationship in recent years with Melanie Maillard, a Frenchwoman introduced to her by Sfar who has worked with French tennis players and other athletes for more than 20 years.
“I’m very lucky that I found the right person who could push me and know me a lot better,” Jaber said. “It’s all about the relationship. We’ve done a great job and we’ve come a long way.”
Maillard was not at this year’s French Open, where Jabert, one of the favorites, was upset in the first round. But Jabeur has long planned to bring Maillard back with her to Wimbledon. She was with Jabeur last year when he reached the quarterfinals, finally fell in love with lawn tennis and told Maillard, “I’m coming back for the title.”
Now she is just one game away.
“It’s rare that someone dares to say it and dare to accept it,” Maillard said Thursday at Wimbledon. “Ons was once a shy young woman. It matures through effort and through self-questioning and the constant search for better approaches and solutions. She is very open minded and has a very supportive family. She has a husband who has agreed to drop everything for her, to follow her everywhere, and that’s powerful, too.”
Jaber, born in the coastal town of Ksar Helal in Tunisia, grew up in a family with four children playing on the courts of local hotels and a local club. Although her all-round athletic talent had coaches in other sports such as soccer and handball trying to woo her, she stuck with tennis and left to train and study at a sports school in Tunis, the capital, at the age of 13.
Jaber, with her quick wit, was a fan of Andy Roddick in her youth and pretended to be Kim Clijsters or Serena or Venus Williams while training.
She won the French Open junior title at 16 and trains in Belgium and France, but has long been in Tunisia, where she lives with her husband Karim Kamoun, who is also her fitness coach. She remains deeply connected to the country.
“Now tennis is like soccer in Tunisia, people follow my matches,” Jabert said in a recent interview. “And I appreciate that so much, and I appreciate that tennis is becoming more and more popular. What’s always been missing is that we have to believe more that we can do it, no matter where you come from.’
Her lifelong attachment to Tunisia stands in stark contrast to Rybakina, her surprise opponent in Saturday’s final. Rybakina, born in Moscow and long regarded as a promising Russian junior, began representing Kazakhstan four years ago while continuing to train regularly in Moscow.
A huge former Soviet republic, Kazakhstan has recruited several top-class Russian players since gaining independence and provided talents like Rybakina with the mainstream funding and support they often lacked.
Although Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s tournament because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ban did not apply to Rybakina, 23, who became Kazakhstan’s first Grand Slam singles finalist on Thursday by beating the 2019 Wimbledon champion .Simona Halep, 6-3, 6-3.
“I’ve been playing for Kazakhstan for a long time now,” Rybakina said, noting that she represented the country at the Olympics and in the Billie Jean King Cup team competition.
“I’m really happy to represent Kazakhstan,” she said. “They believed in me. No more question of how I feel.
Asked if she still feels Russian in her heart, Rybakina replied: “What does it mean to feel? I mean, I play tennis, so for me, I’m enjoying my time here. I feel for the players who couldn’t come here, but I’m just enjoying playing here on the biggest stage, enjoying my time and giving it my all.”
With her huge serve, long reach and penetrating power on the baseline, 17th-seeded Rybakina could be a formidable obstacle for Jabeur. This will be the first women’s Wimbledon final in the Open Era between two players without a Grand Slam singles title, and neither Rybakina nor Jabert have advanced past the quarterfinals of a major singles to that point.
Saturday’s final comes on the same day that much of the Muslim world, including Tunisia, begins celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday.
“If I can make it on this special holiday, one of my favorites actually, it will be great,” Jaber said.
The Guizanis, part of her growing Tunisian fan club, plan to return to Henman Hill on Saturday.
“We will celebrate with Ons, inshallah,” said Ibtesem Guizani.
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