"The crowd is amazing and the energy is perfect" says Jabeur after comeback win over Bencic
WTAFriday, 17 December 2021 at 09:30
Ons Jabeur and Belinda Bencic faced off in the WTA match at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships with the Tunisian proving better in three sets.
Ahead of the start of the event in Abu Dhabi organizers spoke fondly about the ability to host another WTA match with Emma Raducanu and Belinda Bencic being the players involved. Unfortunately, the Brit caught the coronavirus so she could not go which allowed the organizers to bring in Jabeur. The best-ever Arab women's tennis player got the chance to play in the Persian Gulf and she had plenty of support.
Even after Bencic took the first Jabeur did not give up because the crowd was clearly in her favor. Feeding of their energy she was able to find inspiring play turning the match completely around and winning it in a championship tiebreak 10-8. After the match she said:
"The crowd is amazing and the energy is perfect."
Jabeur who is ranked 10th as opposed to Bencic who 23rd had some early issues in the match as Bencic employed an interesting tactic that many associates with Jabeur - drop shots. Asked about that she jokingly said:
"Belinda surprised me with some drop shots - she was stealing my thunder a little bit!"
Either way, Jabeur was able to to overcome the match and become the champion.
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