Ons Jabeur, one of the players with crusading winds and cause at their back, dropped behind early after a tiebreak before a tidy and businesslike couple of sets took her to the Wimbledon semi-finals.
She will meet Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus, who turned over Madison Keys of the United States in her quarter-final.
“I saw she won very quick which I wasn’t happy about,” quipped Jabeur in her courtside interview about Sabalenka’s 6-2, 6-4 win over her opponent.
The Tunisian, Jabeur, is seeking to become the first Arab to win a Grand Slam title and must feel confident that it is a possibility after her 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-1 win over the player who beat her in last year’s final, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
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Rybakina’s exit means there is guaranteed to be a first-time women’s singles champion this year.
Sabalenka is ranked two in the world to Jabeur’s six with the two bringing a clash of styles to the semi-final meeting. Jabeur plays a more varied game to Sabalenka’s big baseline swing replete with her own added sound effects. What it means for Jabeur is that she faces one of the most attacking players in the game.
But the ease at which Jabeur adapted to the baseline game of the defending champion should give her cause for optimism. The sub narrative, or, perhaps it is the most pressing issue on the agenda of the All England Club, is that Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina is lined up against Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic on the other side of the draw.
Exactly a year after they banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at Wimbledon, the possibility remains for a Ukraine player to face a Belarusian in the final and the further diplomatic squirm of the chance of the Princess of Wales handing the Venus Rosewater dish to Sabalenka.
A few days ago fans on Number One Court booed Belarusian player Victoria Azarenka, when she didn’t go to the net to shake hands with Svitolina after the Ukrainian player’s victory. Azarenka knew that Svitolina doesn’t shake hands with Russians and Belarusians in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead she waved to her and later said she was trying to be “respectful towards her decision”.
Svitolina had urged tennis authorities to publicise that Ukrainians won’t be shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian players after matches, so that fans don’t boo because they think some players are being snubbed. However, this request has been turned down.
“We’ve no intention of doing that,” Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton said on Monday. “Historically in tennis the decision on how a player reacts at the end of a match is entirely a personal decision for them and I think we don’t really want to start mandating what happens.”
On Tuesday, Sabalenka reiterated that fans need to understand what is taking place and that if she does face Svitolina in the final, she will not be left hanging at the net with no handshake.
“I think people also need to know what’s going on and why there is no handshake between Ukrainians, Russian, and Belarusian players,” said the semi-finalist.
Jabeur dropped the first set on a tiebreak despite breaking the Kazakh’s serve twice, but clinched the second set with a timely break of serve at 5-4. From then on she comfortably dominated the match as her return of serve appeared to lift. Rybakina had only lost her serve once in the entire tournament before the quarter-final.
A run of five games handed the second set to Jabeur before she shot to a 3-1 lead in the third and held her nerve to close the match and set up the meeting with Australian Open champion Sabalenka, who will become the world number one if she reaches Saturday’s final.
“Very emotional on the court. It’s going to be very difficult match,” said Jabeur of the semi-final. “Probably her shouting that way, me shouting this way. Aryna is more emotional than Elena, so maybe it could be a good or bad thing, I’m not sure. But let’s see tomorrow.”
A physical player, Sabalenka was only briefly threatened by Keys when, after whizzing through the first set 6-2, she trailed 4-2 in the second. That challenge stimulated a change in gear and she went up another notch.
She broke back twice and then, approaching the 1½ hour mark, served out for victory on her second match point that the 25th seed Keys sent long.
“She has really good touch,” said Sabalenka of Jabeur.
“Especially on the grass court, all her slices, drop shots work really well here on grass court. I feel like mentally she’s really strong. She’s making the history. I think this is the biggest motivation for her. That’s why she’s really doing well this season, and especially here at Wimbledon.”
