Twelve months after losing the Wimbledon final to Elena Rybakina, Ons Jabeur still hasn’t looked back. Not even to set up their quarter-final rematch this time around.
She will have no trouble reliving Wednesday’s victory. Jabeur rallied from a one-set deficit to score a 6-7 6-4 6-1 victory over the defending champion in a memorable act of sweet revenge on center court. “I can watch today’s game,” Jabeur said with a smile. “It’s good. But not last year. It’s too difficult.”
In 2022, Jabeur was the highest ranked player, as the third seed, and she won the first set against Rybakina. But that meant nothing as she still had to hold back tears during the trophy presentation ceremony as the finalist.
Before that final, Jabeur told reporters she set the Venus Rosewater Dish as a screensaver on her phone, trying to fight her way to the title. Perhaps, she has since admitted, she wanted a little too much.
This time, she was determined to show discipline in her effort to overtake Rybakina’s towering figure and delivered one of the finest performances of her career.
As he stood in the clubhouse, behind the screen, waiting to step onto center court, for a moment Jabeur’s bitter memories rushed. But she wanted to write a different story this time – in every way.
“When we walked onto the pitch, I had the same feeling of playing the same game against her,” said Jabeur, 28, before adding with a laugh: “But I made sure to switch seats this times. I went for the other seat she won last year. Maybe that’s the seat that won me today.
The superstitious state of mind did not guarantee him a good start. Despite a set point, she lost the opener in a tie-break. The difference from last year, she said afterward, is that she didn’t panic. She had a few terse words for her club (“I kept yelling at my coach saying you told me to play like that, look what’s going on”) but unlike last year, she kept his faith in their game plan.
She foresaw that she might “even try to do things that I might not like on the court” to win. That meant fewer flowery snaps that endear her to crowds. She still flew through the air to hit backhand volleys and also caught Rybakina with a drop shot-lob combination, but chose her moments more wisely and wasn’t afraid to match Rybakina’s intensity, 24 years, in grassroots rallies.
She also benefited from the fact that Rybakina’s serving accuracy was not at its best, often landing returns deep in the corner of the court, sending the third seed scrambling.
Jabeur also minimized the number of errors – 35 winners for 18 unforced errors – and in the second set she hit just three without forcing, winning with an acrobatic volley at the net.
The crowd went wild for fan-favorite Jabeur, but she kept her celebration restrained, opting for a fist pump and a stern look at her box.
It was out of character. Jabeur is the kind of player who feels every moment: roaring in angst and smiling through the fun, putting flair at the forefront of her varied game. But against the otherwise quiet and relentlessly powerful Rybakina, Jabeur was willing to keep it all to a minimum if it meant she could win. And she did, going through the final set.
“I think last year maybe I wasn’t ready to play this kind of game,” Jabeur said when asked to compare performances. “I don’t regret last year. It happened for a reason. I always say it. It was supposed to be this year. »
In 2022, she was twice a finalist at the Slams – Wimbledon and the US Open – and those close moments weighed heavily. Jabeur was proud to be the first Arab to reach a Grand Slam final, but she wanted more. Now she is within reach of another opportunity to write history.
She said the win over Rybakina gave her confidence against semi-final opponent Aryna Sabalenka, who has a similar strong and powerful game – with an added fiery temper.
Sabalenka beat her to the last eight in 2021, and Jabeur had a twinkle in her eye to continue her revenge tour. “I think I’ve shown myself that I can stand up against these players. I’m going to prepare and get my revenge from two years ago.
Aryna Sabalenka: The Wimbledon favourite, but not a Wimbledon favorite
By Thom Gibbs at Wimbledon
Aryna Sabalenka is now the favorite in the Women’s Singles Championship, but she knows she is far from the Wimbledon crowd’s favorite. The most vocal support on the No. 1 court at lunchtime Wednesday was for her American opponent Madison Keys and never louder than when Keys broke serve to take a 4-3 lead in the second set. Unfortunately for Keys, she didn’t win a match afterwards and lost in 90 minutes, 6-2, 6-4.
“Thank you very much for the atmosphere,” Sabalenka said on the court afterwards. “Even though you support her more, I still enjoyed playing in front of you.” This brought laughs from both the crowd and the players and helped ease the lingering cold between SW19 and players from Russia and, as in the case of Sabalenka, Belarus.
Did she find it difficult to perform in front of an audience so clearly behind her opponent? “No no No. I mean, I expected them to be more supportive of her than me. Anyway, it was an amazing atmosphere. Even though they were supportive of her, I really enjoyed playing in front of them.
Keys may have had more cheers, but Sabalenka got a different kind of noise, a sort of audible grimace, a breath sucked sharply between his teeth in response to the violent power of his first serve and base game . It was a clash of two of the sport’s greatest hitters and Sabalenka quickly established his dominance, with faster serves, the odd well-weighted gotcha shot and clinical advantage whenever Keys seemed to feel a opening.
Oddly Keys was responsible for most of the game’s eye-catching winners and emerged victorious in all of the longer rallies, taking the three that went over nine shots. She appeared to seize the initiative after one in the second set and broke serve, only for Sabalenka to come back in the next game and activate top gear that helped her sail to victory. A second 80mph serve from Keys was fired with complete fury, as if Sabalenka found it insulting.
Like other players from Russia and Belarus, Sabalenka was banned from Wimbledon last year. “I was really sad that I couldn’t play here last year. But at the same time, I thought, okay, now was a good time to reset and start all over again.
“Before the grass season [last year] I didn’t play my best tennis. I was struggling a lot with my serve, with those emotions, with a lot of things. I just took this time as good preparation… and everything started to work better.
“So I think in those three or four weeks I did a really good job and it helped me in the US Open. Then I started to believe in myself more, I started to believe better. play, I started to feel better on the court, emotionally I started to feel better.
“I think that period gave me so much confidence. I was very sad but at the same time I was like, okay, this is probably something I really needed.
Tunisia’s Ons Jabuer is her opponent in Thursday’s semi-final, a player who should hold some surprises. “We trained here before Wimbledon. I felt like she was going to do well here, because she played amazing tennis on the practice court. I know it’s different than in matches, but she was able to bring this level to matches. She’s a great player. We have always had tough battles against each other, very close matches.
“She has a very good touch. Especially on the grass pitch, all her slices, dropshots work very well here on the grass pitch. I feel like she is very strong mentally. She is making history , I think that’s her biggest motivation. That’s why she’s doing really well this season, and especially here at Wimbledon. So, yeah, I think her game is really, really tough to play against.
The victory makes Sabalenka the first player since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon, the French Open and the Australian Open in the same year. A win here would make her world number one for the first time, aged 25. “I feel like one of the best. There are other great players.”
When asked if she was more motivated by reaching the final or taking first place in the standings, she answered, with a smile: “To be honest, I want both. But I’m trying to focus on myself because I know if I start thinking about all that, I’m going to lose my focus on the court, my game. So I’m trying to focus on myself in this moment and to make sure that every time I’m on the court, I bring my best tennis. Then later we will see if I am ready to become world number one or if I am ready to play another final.
Jabeur is her last obstacle before a first final at Wimbledon, but on this proof, Sabalenka has nothing to fear from anyone. She may have another fight for a crowd’s affection if she faces a potential final opponent in Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
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