"If you believe you can play good on grass, then you can" - Jabeur confident as Wimbledon looms ahead
WTA
Ons Jabeur has been enjoying the best season of her career, and the Tunisian is hoping to translate her hardwork and success to the grass-court season.
After showing off her clay-court prowess by winning the biggest title of her career in Madrid and making the finals in Rome and Charleston, the 27-year old is aiming for similar success on the tricky, green surface.
"Usually, I play football on grass, not tennis, but it's changing a little bit for me, " Jabeur told WTA Insider by phone on Media Day at the bett1open in Berlin, Germany.
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A couple of weeks ago, Jabeur made her Top 5 debut after Roland Garros. Currently the World No.4, she is the top seed at the first WTA 500 of the grass season.
"I feel like I have a great relationship with grass," Jabeur said. "As soon as I find my timing, how to adapt to my shots, it becomes much better and I feel like I will be enjoying much more my time on grass. I like to see grass as a fun game because it's much different from other surfaces. When I see it that way, I play much better."
Jabeur is armed with a game full of slices, drop shots, and a flat forehand that skids perfectly on grass. Everything finally clicked last summer. Jabeur won her first WTA Tour title on the grass in Birmingham and then followed it up with a run to her first Wimbledon quarterfinal.
"If you believe you can play good on grass, then you can," Jabeur said. "If you have a hate relationship with grass, then it's not going to help.
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"I think grass could suit a lot of players. For example, players who hit flat and hard, it's tough to return the balls. Other players, like myself, who change the rhythm, they slice, they make you visit all the corners of the court, they can play really good on grass. So you need to be ready on your legs and prepare your reaction very well."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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