Poor Ons Jabeur.
I don’t think it was as much Marketa Vondrousova winning Wimbledon’s women’s title as it was Jabeur losing the final.
Jabeur can hit some of the prettiest shots you’ll ever see on the grand stage of Wimbledon. All of her fans back home in Tunisia must have been celebrating Saturday morning when she took a 4-2 lead in the first set.
But so quickly, she was facing three break points. Five straight games went much that way, and Ons was down 6-4, 1-0.
The second set was much like the first as Jabeur practically gave away the match by again losing the last three games of a Wimbledon final with an avalanche of errors.
NO GREAT DAY FOR ONS FANS
Saturday would be Ons’ day, her fans thought, wiping out memories of her previous two appearances in Grand Slam finals. Or so, as her fans probably crossed their fingers.
An hour or so later, Jabeur would be crying at the awards celebration as she told her audience it was the most painful loss of her career. It was a 6-4, 6-4 loss to a Czech left-hander who looked far taller than 5-8 on this day.
Yes, Vondrousova stood tall on this day.
JUST ANOTHER RELATIVE UNKNOWN TO STEAL THE GLORY
It was just a repeat of Jabeur’s loss to Elena Rybakina in the 2022 Wimbledon final. But this one was even more hurting than that loss. Jabeur will always be known as the other player on Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court when Vondrousova became the first unseeded player ever to win a Wimbledon women’s singles championship.
The 5-6, 146-pound Jabeur is an amazing player, with a full bag of tricks, until she plays in a Grand Slam final.
After this one, her fans might now not expect as much from Jabeur.
BIG QUESTION? WHO TAKES OVER THE GAME
Here it is now that no one really knows what to expect next on the women’s tour.
All of a sudden, still world’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina and new star Vondrousova all look capable of taking over the women’s game, with Jabeur looking in from the sideline.
This wasn’t a great or exciting final in terms of caliber of play.
But wait until New York when the green grass turns into a hard surface.
—
James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.
