FThere is no player who cares more about his heart than Ons Jabbar. The Tunisian has lit up the women's tour for the past decade with her sublime skills and smile, reaching the Wimbledon finals in 2022 and 2023, earning her the nickname Minister of Happiness.
But somewhere along the way, Jabbar lost his joy. Eager to start a family, she told herself that if she won Wimbledon in 2023, it would be the perfect time to take a break. That didn't happen and she lost to Marketa Vondrousova, so she continued to play. But scenes of injury, disease and human suffering in Gaza have challenged her over the past year.
“I think with what's going on in the world, it's affected me more than I expected,” Jabour said on the eve of the Australian Open, which starts on Sunday. “I try to stay away from the media because every time I open a video it's terrible. I try to help as much as I can, but the hard part is that I can't really help as much as I'd like. I know that losing at Wimbledon also affected me. A lot of things came together, including injuries and playing, and I tried to remember why I started playing tennis.The tennis court has to be my happy place. If not, something may be wrong.
“Everyone calls me the Minister of Happiness and sees me happy all the time, but obviously I'm not happy all the time. There are some moments of anger and sadness and so on. Look at the coat. As you can see, I get angry a lot. It's a mixture of many things. But what I want to emphasize is that happiness is the best emotion anyone can feel. It is very important to remember the beautiful feelings.
Jabour is one of the few athletes who has spoken out about the situation in Gaza, and continues to work to improve the situation in his role as an ambassador for the World Food Programme. She thinks tennis could have helped her more, but she knows the political climate makes it difficult.
“The important thing about speaking out for me is trying to somehow find peace, speaking out and using my position, but also helping the children and families who are suffering every day. “There is,” she says. “As WFP ambassadors, we're trying to get the simple things that we get here every day – food. They don't have that. And it's winter, so it's actually causing babies to die. I'm freezing to death, but to me it's inhumane. How can we live in a world like this? What's going on in the world even makes sense to me? No. That's really, really scary.
“Children are dying everywhere, in Ukraine, in Gaza, in other countries. It's very sad. I support justice. I support peace. That's the most important thing. If we stop firing and selling guns, this is over. But it's a little more complicated than that.”
It hasn't been easy to separate her work as a tennis player from what's going on in the world, but knee problems and the shoulder injury that forced her off the tour after last year's U.S. Open put a damper on that work. It became even more difficult. In hindsight, some bad choices also affected her, dropping from sixth place at the start of 2024 to 40th by the time the Australian Open began.
If she could have done anything differently, she said she would have taken better care of her body, acknowledging that she played through injuries and illness. “As a competitive athlete, you always want to play, even if I'm not 100%. But I definitely learn from these mistakes. The things that hurt me the most are the ones in this world It's the injustice that we're suffering. I'm trying to separate things, which is very difficult. If innocent people are dying, then I'm going to play tennis. What does it mean?”
This year marks Jabbar's 14th year on the WTA Tour. It took her years to really find her feet, but she has reached three Grand Slam finals so far and is ranked as high as No. 2. Blessed with a deft touch and able to make fun of any opponent when healthy, she continues to set high goals and take on challenges. Win the elusive slam title. “That’s definitely the end goal,” she says.
“But I think the most important thing is that I want to get back to my game. I just want to win a Grand Slam in the game that I know. A lot of girls are playing at an amazing level right now. I want to have that level and not just play one or two games at that level, but maintain a high level.”
It may take time for Jabour to get back to her best form after her injury, but she is confident it will happen. Starting a family is also a life goal and the next 12 months are critical. “This year is definitely an important year for me with a lot of decisions to make,” she says. “But I want to take it one step at a time. When I think about my family a lot, I feel like that puts a lot of pressure on me, but I certainly don't need more pressure.
“It's a question of acceptance, and whether you're happy with your career right now, and what do you need to do to do more? Do you have the energy to do more? There's a lot of question marks there. Yes, but I'm taking it day by day and maybe I'll find an answer during the season.”
