Ons Jabeur is the only prominent Arab and African player on the Tour right now and wants to leverage on her success to inspire the new generation from her country and beyond to pick up a racket.
Tennis doesn't have a long-standing history in the African and Arab world, with only a handful of players who have reached the highest heights. One of them is Jabeur, who hails from Tunisia.
Having broken the world's Top 10 last year for the first time, Jabeur has now established herself as a mainstay of the elite band. Last week, she captured her second career title in Madrid, although she refused to partake in the traditional champagne celebration because she is a Muslim and out of respect for her country and Arabs watching.
During the tournament, she scored high-quality wins over Belinda Bencic, Simona Halep, and Jessica Pegula to lift the trophy. Jabeur was quite outspoken about her fondness for being a role model for people in her country, especially in North Africa, now that she's helped put the region on the tennis map.
"I like to see how French people are together (on tour), Americans, Australian, and I feel like I want to see this, you know, with my country. It doesn't matter, Tunisia or Egypt or Morocco, I really want to see more and more players."
"Being the only Arab is not easy to be on tour right now. I just want to say if I did it (succeed on tour), it's not impossible. "Like I said before, I always try to inspire other generations."
Tennis legend and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams also spoke about Jabeur's legacy, recently praising her for being a trailblazer back home.
"You're gonna see a whole other generation of women from North Africa coming into tennis. It's going to be all owed to her."
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