18-time Grand Slam singles champion Martina Navratilova thinks Ons Jabeur could disrupt Iga Swiatek's dominance if she makes one crucial mental change.
2022 was the best season of Jabeur's career. She inspired millions of people in Tunisia and North Africa and the Middle East more generally with her excellent results and attractive playing style.
Jabeur won a WTA 1000 title on clay at the Madrid Open. She defeated Jessica Pegula, who Navratilova thinks needs a more significant weapon to challenge for Grand Slams, in the final in Spain.
The Tunisian reached the Wimbledon final a couple of months later and looked to be on the verge of securing her maiden Grand Slam title after winning the opening set, but Elena Rybakina stormed back to triumph at SW19.
Jabeur bounced back from that setback by progressing to the US Open final. Despite being the crowd favorite and taking a close second set to a tiebreak, she fell in straight sets to the world No. 1 Swiatek.
Reaching two Grand Slam finals and winning in Madrid led to Jabeur's nomination for the 2022 WTA Player of the Year, which shows how much progress she made despite those heartbreaking major final losses.
Navratilova believes Jabeur's overall game means she can disrupt Swiatek next season but feels the 28-year-old needs to take the next step by producing in the most pressurized moments in Grand Slam finals.
"She reached the final at both Wimbledon and the US Open. With so many people looking up to her, this takes a lot of effort to handle that pressure. She has good energy and the variety to frustrate her opponents."
"But now she needs to take that next step and come up big during the most pressure moments. If she can do that, Jabeur is someone who has the overall game and mindset to disrupt Swiatek’s dominance."