Professional female tennis player Ons Jabeur ranked no.6, comes from Tunisia. Her highest WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) rating to date is No. 2, which she achieved on the 27th of June, 2022. She is also the highest-ranked African and Arab tennis player in WTA and ATP rankings history.
As much as Ons has achieved in her career, she believes one of her best achievements of hers was playing with Serena Williams. The Tunisian helped the former world no. 1 win the semi-finals at the grass-court event in Eastbourne.
Williams was making her court comeback after almost a year because of an injury layoff. She invited Jabeur to pair up with her at the Eastbourne International, to play doubles at the grass court.
It’s official ✍️
Presenting: 𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗔@serenawilliams x @Ons_Jabeur pic.twitter.com/6j7Cl4aSWQ
— wta (@WTA) June 22, 2022
Jabeur also extended an invitation to Serena and her sister, Venus Williams, at her abode to host both sisters. The doubles partnership between Serena Williams and Ons Jabeur proved to be a success, as they beat Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo to win their opening match at the Eastbourne International. They together were called “OnsRena”.
However, their partnership had to come to an abrupt end when they were forced to withdraw due to Jabeur’s right knee injury.
Ons Jabeur on playing with Serena Williams
She commented after defeating Shelby Rogers to advance to the fourth round of the US Open, “It’s like winning a Grand Slam for me, you know.” When Jabeur was asked, she said that she was “over the moon” when Williams offered her to be her doubles partner. The pair then went on to make an amazing partnership.
When asked to share her experience, “First time hitting with her I was really stressed,” Jabeur admitted, “I didn’t want to miss any ball, I didn’t want to make a bad impression. I feel much more comfortable with her right now, and definitely that helped my confidence a lot.” (via Tennis.com).
The Tunisian went on to share a hilarious moment where the 23-time rand slam missed a shot and said sorry. “She was, like, for a certain time she was apologizing, like, ‘Sorry,’ because she missed. I just think, just really amazing, the combination of us playing together, it’s kind of incredible…I was, like, ‘You can miss, no problem!’”
Jabeur went on to express how she grew up watching Williams play and break records everywhere. She told how inspiring Williams has been for the Tunisians as she admired her consistency and resilience. She also appreciate Venus, and said “Unbelievable what they did for this sport.”
Jabeur concluded by saying, “I feel like I was lucky enough to play doubles with her, because this, I’m going to cherish for my whole life.”
Ons Jabeur has indeed become one of the top rising tennis players in the world in a short period of time. With her funny and loving nature, she is rightly the fan-favorite player right now.