HAMMAM SOUSSE, Tunisia — Fifteen years ago,
Ons Jabeur’s young tennis
sparring partner could see the Tunisian was destined for glory — even if he
suffered a broken arm in the process.
اضافة اعلان
Omar Laabidi
remembers being repeatedly beaten by a 12-year-old Jabeur, who will Thursday
become the first Arab to play in a
Grand Slam semi-final, at Wimbledon.
“We used to call
her ‘Roger Federer’,” Laabidi said.
He was talking
at the tennis club where it all began, in the North African country’s coastal
town of Hammam Sousse.
“One time during
a training match she hit a drop shot that I tried so hard to return that I
broke my arm,” he said.
Jabeur had
started by playing on courts belonging to local hotels but she soon joined the
Tennis Club Hammam Sousse, which now bears a huge portrait of its most famous
graduate.
Coach Nabil
Mlika recalls training a talented girl “determined to stand out” against both
female and male peers.
It is a
determination that has taken her all the way to the world number two spot — one
place behind Poland’s Iga Swiatek.
But Mlika, who
trained a young Jabeur for 10 years, said there was a moment where she almost
quit the sport.
“She had great
ball control, to the point where other coaches tried to attract her to
handball,” said the 55-year-old.
“Ons thought
seriously about switching sports — but decided to stick to tennis.”
‘Queen of the drop
shot’
The 27-year-old Tunisian’s fighting spirit has been on show throughout
her career.
Despite crashing
out in the first round of the
French Open in May, she surged back to win the
Berlin WTA singles title a few weeks later.
Her appearance
in the Wimbledon semis — against close friend and “barbecue buddy” Tatjana
Maria — comes just two weeks after she was forced to withdraw from the
Eastbourne tournament, where she was partnering Serena Williams in the doubles,
with a knee injury.
Jabeur, known to
many Tunisians as “the minister for happiness”, was born in the southern
coastal town of Ksar Hellal, one of four siblings.
She moved to the
capital, Tunis, at the age of 12 to train at a highly rated state-backed sports
club.
She has been
married to her physical trainer, and former fencer, Karim Kamoun, since 2015.
The right-hander
is known for her stamina and the variety of her play.
“She hates
playing at one pace,” said Mlika. “She’s always trying to create a spectacle by
switching up the game with shots that surprise her opponents, especially with
drop shots.
“She’s really
the queen of the drop shot.”
‘An example of
hope’
Jabeur made a splash on the global scene in 2011, winning the girls’
singles at the French Open at the age of 16.
Laabidi also moved
to Tunis around the same time as the adolescent
Jabeur and joined the same
academy, where they continued sparring.
“She was always
fun and quickly got to know strangers,” he said.
“But she was
always provocative and competitively debating on all subjects.”
Those who knew her
as a teenager say she has changed little despite her growing fame.
“She still runs
around gathering up all the balls during training, which she’s been doing since
she started playing,” said Mlika.
Unsurprisingly, as
her fame has spiraled membership levels have sky-rocketed at her home club,
from 320 in 2018 to more than 700 today.
For Yousra Koubaa,
the mother of eight-year-old student Yasmine, Jabeur is “an example of hope,
one we’re always showing to our children”.
Mlika says he uses
photos of a young Jabeur to inspire his students today.
“She was a spark
of enthusiasm, always moving and wanting to show that she was the best,” he
said.
“She always put me in a
difficult position because I had to balance between taking the training up a
level, or waiting for her peers to catch up with her level and her pace.”
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