Vogue Arabia, January 2023. Photo: Sam Rawadi
Former Vogue Arabia cover star and beloved Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur has once again proven her mettle as she proceeds to the French Open quarterfinals after defeating American player Bernarda Pera in straight sets.
Not only did the seventh-seeded Jabeur win but she made sure that the American player could not win a single game on her serve. While Pera was broken eight times on Court Phillipe Chatrier Jabeur managed to save eight of the 12 break points she faced during her serve although she did admit to the fact that her opponent had managed to put a lot of pressure on her service at one point.“I’m pleased that I was able to win my service games when I needed to. … Hopefully, I’ll return well and serve better in my next match,” she remarked.
Vogue Arabia, January 2023. Photo: Sam Rawadi
This match marks another historic win for the Arab player as she advances to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time in her career. Just last year Jabeur was the runner-up at Wimbledon and is widely known as the first Arab to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament. Two months after that she reached the US Open final, losing to World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in New York. In June 2022 Kabeur also achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 2 on the Women’s Tennis Association ranking.
This tournament gives Jabeur another chance at winning a Grand Slam and continuing on her historic journey of inspiring the entire Arab world along with Tunisia. She certainly takes this responsibility seriously as evidenced by her interview with Vogue Arabia.“I feel like it’s a great responsibility. It pushes me to do better and inspire more women from my country. It’s important to send that positive message, especially when your country is going through tough times. It is very important to help people through what you do, especially to use your platform to inspire more people and fight for causes that you believe in. It’s a new thing for me but I’m loving it. From the beginning, I always have wanted to just share great energy. I always try to spread a message of positive thoughts and just hope this can help others.”
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