Ons Jabeur is once again trying to fulfill her dream of winning Wimbledon, and she has Fernando Verdasco in her corner.
The Tunisian has lost two Wimbledon finals in the past. While the first one to Elena Rybakina was explainable due to how strong of a grass-court player Rybakina is due to her strengths on the tennis court, the second final was particularly painful as she lost to a player who had expected to lose in the first round.
She's talked many times since then about the loss and how painful it was, but she's back at the event hoping to finally get it done. While not the top favorite, Jabeur has as good a chance as anybody, and she's boosted it by having former ATP player Verdasco in her corner.
He's not her regular coach, but they've known each other for a very long time. When his player got injured, the Tunisian asked Verdasco if he wanted to stay behind and help her, and he was open to it.
"His player got injured… so I asked him if he could stay with me. Love his energy. Love his attitude. Love the way he talks to me in Spanish. I don’t even understand what he’s sayings sometimes, but it sounds good. I was always curious about the perspective from a player to a player."
She talked about it after her most recent match at Wimbledon, admitting that she just loves his energy and attitude, even though she sometimes doesn't understand what he says.
"Sometimes I ask him questions like ‘what do you feel in this certain moment?’ I feel like we are connected in a way. I love working with people that love to work with me just to really help me. Sometimes that’s really tough to find. He has a good connection with my coach. It really helps us as a team."
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