Wimbledon 2023: Ons Jabeur 'going for revenge' in final after becoming a 'different player' in last six months
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Published 14/07/2023 at 13:34 GMT
Ons Jabeur knows how it feels to take to the Centre Court grass for a Wimbledon final, but she will be hoping for a different outcome a year on from her gut-wrenching defeat to Elena Rybakina. The Tunisian says she wants "revenge" when she faces Marketa Vondrousova for the trophy on Saturday, with both players gunning for their maiden Grand Slam title after previously losing finals.
Wimbledon highlights: Vondrousova and Jabeur advance to women's final
Ons Jabeur says she's “going for revenge” in the Wimbledon final following last year’s heartbreaking defeat and believes she wouldn’t have won her epic semi-final as recently as six months ago.
The Tunisian made to it to a second consecutive final at SW19 by coming from a set and a break down to beat world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in a Centre Court classic on Thursday.
A year ago, she went a set up against Elena Rybakina in the final before the Kazakh stormed back to deny Jabeur a maiden Grand Slam title.
Jabeur, seeded sixth at the All England Club, went on to lose the US Open final too, but she hopes that Saturday’s face-off with former French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova will finally see her dream come true.
“I'm going for my revenge,” Jabeur said.
“I didn't win against her [Vondrousova] this year. She has good hands. She plays very good.
“Honestly, I will try to focus on myself a lot. I'm not sure how she's going to play a second Grand Slam final, I believe. We both hungry to win. Whoever deserves it more will win.”
Jabeur mentioned in her on-court interview after her epic comeback against Sabalenka that the ‘old Ons’ would not have been able to complete the fight-back.
Pressed on how old she was talking about, Jabeur said: “Twelve months ago for sure. Maybe also a little bit before, like six months ago. It's a different player.”
“I'm working on myself like crazy. You have no idea what I'm doing. 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.
“For me, I always believed in mental, in working on it. 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. That's probably what happened in the last two matches.”
Jabeur has eliminated four Grand Slam champions to reach the final this year: Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova, Rybakina and Sabalenka.
But in Vondrousova, she will be up against a player who, like her, is chasing a first-ever major title.
“I think a final is a final. You're playing someone, Grand Slam champion or not,” Jabeur said.
“I think it's going to be very difficult. It can happen for both. Whoever could handle more the emotions, whoever could be more ready on the court, will definitely win that match.
“For me, that's why I said I want to focus more on myself. I want to make my path worth it, winning [against] all these Grand Slam champions to be in the final. I'm going full in, and hopefully this time it will work.”
Vondrousova, ranked No. 42 in the world, reached the French Open final aged 19 in 2019 but suffered defeat to Ash Barty.
However, the Czech, who beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets to reach the Wimbledon final , believes the experience in Paris could help her go one step further.
“It can definitely help in tough moments. I've been through it. Once I was very young, so I think it was just too much for me back then,” said Vondrousova.
“I think this can help you also on the way. You know what to do. You know you have to have good people around you.
“Definitely it can help. I'm a bit older now also. I think I'm a bit different person. I'm just very happy to be through this again.”
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Stream daily highlights from Wimbledon at 10pm UK time, as well as the two singles finals live on July 15 and 16, on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
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