Quote of the Day: Ons Jabeur says Aryna Sabalenka was ... - Tennis Magazine

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Thursday, July 13, 2023

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"That's the thing about playing Aryna... You know she's there," said Jabeur, who overcame the No. 2 seed to return to the Wimbledon final for the second year in a row.

ByBaseline Staff

Published Jul 14, 2023

WATCH: "That's the thing about playing Aryna... You know she's there," said Ons Jabeur making second straight Wimbledon final.

For the second year in a row, Ons Jabeur is back in the final at Wimbledon, and she’s had to do it the hard way.

After defeating former champion Petra Kvitova in the fourth round, Jabeur earned some sweet revenge against last year’s champion Elena Rybakina—the player who defeated Jabeur in 2022—in a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 contest. On Thursday, Jabeur returned to the final after edging past Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka—who was playing for the world No. 1 ranking—in three sets.

"Last year was my first final of a Grand Slam. Definitely getting closer to winning the Grand Slam that I always wished," Jabeur told press afterward. "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.

"Being in the last stages, I think it does help you believe more."

Say what?? Wanna see me in the finals?? I SAY YES WIMBLEDON 🔥 🔥 Let’s go!!! pic.twitter.com/eNkKdQuDuK

— Ons Jabeur (@Ons_Jabeur) July 13, 2023

While Sabalenka was firing herself up, battling with the Centre Court crowd and hitting the stuffing out of the ball with her signature screaming grunt, on the other side of the net Jabeur was the picture of calm. She maintained that centered mindset through her 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 victory, prompting questions from reporters afterward:

Q. I want to ask about your coping mechanisms. Aryna was really loud and hitting the ball really hard. We didn't figure out what your coping mechanisms were.

ONS JABEUR: She was screaming for both of us, I guess (laughter). I couldn't even scream with her. It's tough.

It is true. I mean, that's the thing about playing Aryna. She's there. You know she's there. Actually it's funny, because when I had the match point on her serve, the crowd was cheering for me. I was like, Please, please, don't cheer, she will get angry and she will ace me. She did actually. She got so angry that she aced me.

Me, I tried to stay calm. I did get angry a lot because of not accepting a bit she was serving very well and not finding a way. But staying in the match, that's how I coped with playing today.

Ons Jabeur will face Marketa Vondrousova in the Wimbledon final on Saturday. The pair’s head-to-head is level at two wins apiece, with Vondrousova clinching their two most recent meetings.

© Getty Images

Nicknamed “The Minister of Happiness” back home for giving Tunisian sports fans so much to celebrate, Jabeur’s sense of humor was on full display in the press room after the match. But while she might have laughed off the question about Sabalenka’s loud grunting, Jabeur was quick to credit a lot of her recent success to the years of mental work with sports psychologist Melanie Maillard.

“For me, I always believed in mental, in working on it,” Jabeur said. “That's what I've been doing for the past years, since I was maybe 10 years old, because I know if you are not ready physically, mentally you can always win.”

She will be up against an unknown quantity in unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, who reached her second Grand Slam final after ending Elina Svitolina’s dream run 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals.

The pair’s head-to-head is level at two wins apiece, with Vondrousova clinching their two most recent meetings.

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