Ons Jabeur on the brink of success for the Arab world

Her picture is on the cover of Vogue Arabia, this year’s January edition. The caption reads: Top, pants, earrings, necklace, Prada.

The article begins by placing Ons Jabeur in her country, what she represents, how she is perceived as their most famous sports star, a woman tennis player in a Muslim world.

“Driving through the streets of Tunis, it is impossible to avoid Ons Jabeur,” it says. “Her face stares down at commuters from giant billboards, proudly proclaiming that she was ‘Made in Tunisia’. That pride runs deep. The tennis star has become a national treasure, a symbol of sporting success not just for the North African nation, but the whole Arab world.”

Jabeur enjoyed the best 12 months of her career last year by sweeping into the Wimbledon final before losing to Elena Rybakina. Two months later, she reached the US Open final, losing to World number one Iga Swiatek in New York.

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This year at Wimbledon, she knocked Rybakina out at the quarter-final stage before seeing off world number two Aryna Sabalenka. In a post-match interview on Centre Court, having come back from a set and a break down, she said the “old Jabeur” would have probably lost that semi-final.

Jabeur exploded onto the main scene at 27, relatively old in tennis terms. A lifetime of tennis to become an overnight success, her late lurch forward in the sport and the success she has had as a Muslim woman made her a person of interest for the Netflix docuseries Break Point.

In 2019, she won the Arab Woman of the Year award, highlighting her impact on and off the court and was honoured by her country when Tunisian president Kais Saied presented her with the Order of Merit. Jabeur’s image also appears on a postage stamp and she was recently named Peace Champion of the Year, an award previously won by Lionel Messi.

On another website KAWA – Knowing Arabia Watching Arabia – Jabeur was picked as one of four significant influencers. She joined Queen Rania of Jordan, Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki and Amal Clooney, the renowned Lebanese human rights lawyer and wife of actor George, as women who are leaving their imprint on the Arab world.

“I’m working on myself like crazy. You have no idea what I’m doing,” she said after winning the semi-final. “Every time there is something, I’m very tough with myself, try to improve everything. Very impatient sometimes, which is not good.

“Maybe the injuries did slow me down and teach me to be patient and accept what’s going on. Last year was my first final of a Grand Slam. Definitely getting closer to winning the Grand Slam. I would say I always believed. But sometimes you would question and doubt it if it’s going to happen. If it’s ever going to happen.”

Along with the Morocco football team, who were the first African and Arab team to qualify for a Fifa World Cup semi-final, Jabeur represents an emerging theme of pan-Arab sporting success. She is unashamedly crusading, an accessible personality, who uses her image and opinions to create a role model figure.

To become a Wimbledon champion against Marketa Vondrousova would place her even higher in the firmament of pan Arabic success. But the heavily tattooed 24-year-old left handed Czech player has her own drivers and reasons to hunger for the championship.

As a teenager Vondrousova made it into the 2019 French Open final in without dropping a set before losing to Ash Barty. Last year she was in London but to watch a friend play.

“I had a cast on,” she says. “It was after the surgery. Yeah, I didn’t play for almost six months, so it was very tough. I’m just so grateful to be here. It’s crazy that this is happening.”

A recurring wrist injury forced the surgery. This year at the Australian Open, using protected ranking, she reached the third round, defeating Alison Riske and second seed Jabeur.

The first unseeded women’s singles Wimbledon finalist in the Open Era (since 1968), Vondrousova – like the woman the Tunisians call “Wazeerat Al Sa’ada”, or the Minister of Happiness – also has a little history on her side.