'She Was Screaming For Both Of Us': Jabeur On Playing Sabalenka At Wimbledon
WTA
Ons Jabeur is proving herself to be a really superb player once more booking yet another Wimbledon final after the one last year.
The Tunisian player has one clear goal in her career, and that's to become the first woman from her continent to win a Grand Slam trophy. She had two chances to do that so far, coming up both short times. Last year's Wimbledon was particularly painful for her as she was up a set on Elena Rybakina and still lost.
The second one was a match where she faced the number one player in the world, and while she played a fair match, she wasn't really given many chances to win. Now it's time for another final, and this time around, it might just be her time. She's certainly going to be favoured against Marketa Vondrousova, who stunned Elina Svitolina to book the final.
When it comes to her semi-final Jabeur exorcised a couple of demons. She was on course for another heartbreak but managed a dramatic comeback in the second set, only to cruise past a very nervous Sabalenka in the 3rd. After the match, Jabeur shared her thoughts on how it went and how she dealt with pressure as she wasn't very vocal.
She was screaming for both of us, I guess (laughter). I couldn't even scream with her. It's tough. It is true. I mean, that's the thing about playing Aryna. She's there. You know she's there.
Actually it's funny, because when I had the match point on her serve, the crowd was cheering for me. I was like, Please, please, don't cheer, she will get angry and she will ace me. She did actually. She got so angry that she aced me.
Jabeur has had her own problems with nerves but the match was proof that experience is vital. It might sound cliche, but it matters ultimately. Those previous heartbreaks allowed Jabeur to find calm and close out the match. Now it's time to make history on Saturday.
Me, I tried to stay calm. I did get angry a lot because of not accepting a bit she was serving very well and not finding a way. But staying in the match, that's how I coped with playing today.
