One of the more notable names to miss the 2024 Paris Olympics is Ons Jabeur, and it was a huge surprise because Tunisians are very proud of her and love her representation of the country.
There is no bigger event where an athlete can represent their country than the Olympics, so Jabeur's skipping the Olympic Games was a very curious decision. It was even more so because the event was played in Paris on clay, a surface where she generally plays really well.
One of her biggest trophies, if not the biggest, came on clay in Madrid, so these Olympics seemed like the perfect setup for her. It's true to a degree, but the way the season was shaped made playing at the Olympics a very risky decision.
The changes in the surface are very harsh on the body. Going from grass to clay for a week and then back to hard courts would put her body under a lot of stress, and she has already been struggling with injuries.
Instead of the Olympics, Jabeur made her way to Washington to compete at the 2024 Citi Open, where she spoke with the media. Obviously, one of the first questions was why she was not in Paris. She mentioned the surface change as the biggest reason why she's not playing in the Olympics.
"Well, I didn't play the Olympics because of the surface changes. Since I have, like, knee problems, honestly it would be very tough decision to take. It would probably make me not be able to play for the rest of the season. I'm managing my knee so much... Probably people don't know what's happening on the inside."
Her knee has been an issue for a while, and she has been trying her best to still play while dealing with the issue. Changes in surface would have likely made that impossible, so she opted against it.
It was a tough decision; she didn't make it comfortably, but she has already put it behind her as she's in Washington and happy to be here.
"Yeah, it was probably very tough decision not to go to the Olympics. But very happy to be here. I haven't played a lot of matches this year. I basically skipped the beginning of the year. So yeah, I didn't want to make the same kind of mistakes and go and not be 100%."
"If I didn't feel like going there and win the medal, why go in the first place? But yeah, on the positive side I'm very happy to be back here in Washington. I enjoyed playing a couple of years ago. To my fans that are here waiting to see me, I hope I can be able to play 100% and perform really well."
The start of her campaign at the WTA 500 event was good for her. She teamed up with her friend Paula Badosa in the doubles, and they started with a win before she was forced to withdraw from the doubles competition because of a shoulder injury.
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