Ons Jabeur

Ons Jabeur is a Tunisian professional tennis player and the most successful tennis player from Africa.

Ons Jabeur was born on August 28, 1994, in Ksar Hellal, Monastir, Tunisia, to parents Ridha and Samira Jabeur. The Tunisian has three siblings, two brothers and one sister, and her mother used to play tennis recreationally.

That's how Ons also got to tennis when she was introduced to the sport at the age of three. She then trained under coach Nabil Milka, but eventually, Jabeur moved to the country's capital, Tunis, and trained at the Lycée Sportif El Menzah.

As Jabeur grew older, she also attended camps in Europe, in countries such as Belgium and France. During her junior career, she enjoyed quite a lot of success on the Grand Slam level, having won the 2011 Roland Garros Girls' singles event.

At the end of the 2011 season, the Tunisian had to undergo left wrist surgery, but in 2012, she made her debut on the WTA Tour after receiving a wild card for the Qatar Open, where she lost in her opening match to Virginie Razzano.

However, similar to Jessica Pegula, Jabeur can certainly be considered a late bloomer. She has slowly progressed through the ranks, ending the 2013, 2014, and 2016 seasons in the Top 200 in the WTA Rankings and then every year from 2017 until 2019 in the Top 100.

In 2020, Jabeur finished the year as world no. 31 after reaching her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open and the same result also at the Cincinnati Masters and the Qatar Open, where she debuted eight years prior.

Her progress continued in 2021, and this time, the Tunisian broke into the Top 10, reaching the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon and the Canadian Open and the semifinals at the Indian Wells Masters.

Jabeur's biggest career triumph came in 2022 when she won the Madrid Open, but it was a season of finals for her, having reached the Italian Open final, the Wimbledon final, and also the US Open final.

In 2023, the Tunisian established herself as a worthy Top 10 player, even though another heartbreak awaited her at Wimbledon, where she once again lost in the final, already her third on the major stage.