"I had some help from a few animals" admits Ons Jabeur after Madrid triumph

"I had some help from a few animals" admits Ons Jabeur after Madrid triumph

by Evita Mueller

Last updated

Ons Jabeur, the first Arab woman to win a WTA 1000 event, became the champion of the 2022 Madrid Open.

In the 2022 Madrid Open final, Ons Jabeur, the eighth seed, faced Jessica Pegula, the twelveth seed. The Tunisian appeared unstoppable in the Spanish capital, and she proved it with a superb three-set triumph in under two hours in the final.

"It started with me not adjusting very well to the conditions. Then a few key words, like "digging deep." That I had to do in the first matches and also other matches. "Revenge" is also something that I had to do in three matches."

"It's crazy because I knew I'm playing really good and have the level to win any tournament. But sometimes a few things were missing, and it wasn't there. But this tournament didn't feel great at the beginning, and then it was really good. The final, I had to really get ready mentally for it. I had some help from a few animals."

"I was fooling around, playing with cards. And I was like, "I'm going to try to pick a card each day." It's animal cards and the animal had a message on it. I used it. When I picked up the card, I say, "OK, what should I do to win tomorrow?" One animal told me to dig deep. One of the animals actually told me that I'm playing a legend."

"It was Simona [Halep]. It was perfect. One animal told me to use my intelligence to be ready, and one animal told me to take action. So it was the perfect card each time I picked it up."

"I actually did this once, but it wasn't with that with animals. It was in Chicago. I had this book, 21 lessons about tennis, and I flipped the book and then opened a random page and it said what tennis could teach you, and then I used that. I think it worked better here in Madrid. Thank you, my animal friends, for helping me."

"I like to get motivation from outside the courts and my team has been helpful a lot with me. Issam and Kareem and especially Melanie [Maillard, Jabeur's sports psychologist] this week. It's amazing to have her and hopefully she will be back with me for more tournaments."

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