Ons Jabeur entered the French Open last year with her career on the rise. Having won the Madrid Open, her first WTA 1000 title, she immediately followed it with victory in Rome. Jabeur began the second grand slam tournament of the year as second favourite but crashed out in the first round.
One year on, the 28-year-old returned under completely different circumstances. She has spent much of this season injured, with setbacks continually halting her attempts to re-establish top form. Still, the seventh seed continues to advance through the draw. On Monday, Jabeur eased past Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals here for the first time.
By finally making a long-awaited extended run where she first made her name by winning the 2010 junior title, Jabeur has now reached the quarter-finals of every grand slam tournament.
Despite her first-round defeat in Paris, Jabeur’s play on clay last year paved the way for a breakthrough season as she became the first Arab and African player to reach the Wimbledon and US Open finals, rising to a career high of No 2. She had started this year with hopes of chasing down Iga Swiatek at No 1 but shortly after the Australian Open in January she had minor knee surgery and was out of action for two months.
Just as it seemed like Jabeur had rediscovered her form, disaster struck again. The Tunisian won her first title of the year on the green clay of Charleston but three games into her Stuttgart match against Swiatek she was forced to retire with a calf injury. She arrived here undercooked, mentally sharp but still managing both her injury and the frustration that has come with it.
“I have learned a lot how to accept things, either good or bad,” she said. “Being injured was part of my path, how the season would have started here this year. I worked a lot on my mental health and worked a lot on how to manage all this because I believe a lot of injuries are connected to our emotional part. I’m trying to manage that.”
Jabeur has proven that her varied, well-rounded game works on every surface, but nothing suits it like clay. Her groundstrokes are potent enough to hit through slow conditions, she instinctively knows how to open up angles and has the delicate hands to suffocate opponents with drop shots. It is the only surface, she says, she can thrive on without any prior matches. Given her physical issues, that is proving vital in Paris.
“These things take a lot of time. I have to accept my current condition now, because I was injured quite a lot of times this year. I’m not going to be impatient. I will give time to my body to adapt. And right now I’m winning matches without being at 100%, so I’m learning.”
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After so much bad luck, a decent draw has certainly helped, providing her with time to shake off the rust in her game. She has not faced a seeded player and Pera, ranked No 36, was her highest-ranked opponent. In the third round against the in-form Olga Danilovic, Jabeur looked exhausted midway through the second set but she demonstrated her mental fortitude by recovering from a set down to win.
She has put herself in contention deep in a grand slam tournament for the third time in her past four attempts and the positive outlook that has carried her career for years remains unchanged.
“These things happen,” she said. “Tennis is a very tough sport. But I’m glad that I’m healthy now, I mean, trying to get there hopefully and be ready to win my first grand slam.” She will next face Beatriz Haddad Maia, who outlasted Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 in a marathon 3hr 51min battle.
Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff will contest a rematch of last year’s French Open final on Wednesday after both players returned to the quarter-finals. Gauff defeated Anna Karolins Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 while Lesia Tsurenko retired with illness while trailing Swiatek 5-1 in the first set.
