Ons Jabeur claimed victory in an exhibition match due to the retirement of the former world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit in Tallinn.
The Estonian tennis player, who won six WTA titles, decided to retire in mid-2023 at the age of 27. Kontaveit explained that she is dealing with lumbar disc degradation, a condition that hinders her ability to train normally and compete under regular conditions.
Her peak came in the latter part of the 2022 season when she secured four titles between August and October, entered the Top 10 for the first time in her career, and participated in the WTA Finals, where she lost in the final to the Spanish player Garbiñe Muguruza.
In June 2022, following her appearance in the final in Hamburg, the penultimate of her professional career, Kontaveit reached the number two spot in the rankings, just behind the Polish player Iga Swiatek. Despite her achievements, Grand Slams remained a challenge, with her best result being the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 2020.
After playing her last match at Wimbledon, a defeat against Marie Bouzkova in the second round, Kontaveit announced that she would bid farewell to her home crowd in Estonia and engage in an exhibition match with her friend Ons Jabeur.
The match ended in victory for the Tunisian with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 10-7, and after the encounter, Kontaveit expressed her gratitude to the 3-times Grand Slam champion for the contested duel:
“It is an honor to be here in front of such a large crowd and to compete against Ons, who is a terrific tennis player and a fantastic person, and to have Kader, one of my favorite referees, with us today," she said.
"I am overjoyed that I was able to say goodbye to everyone on the tennis court once again. I feel like I've done something really right in my life since I've been able to bring such an audience here," Kontaveit added.
Anett Kontaveit & Ons Jabeur before Anett’s farewell match today. About a year ago, Anett & some other tennis players were asked what their ‘tennis dream’ was. Anett said her dream would be to have some of her closest friends like Ons come to Tallinn & play a match with her…
