Ons Jabeur, battling injuries and unhappy on the court, taking a hiatus from women's tennis
Once ranked No. 2 on the WTA Tour, Jabeur has battled injuries in recent years and has fallen to her current No. 71. The 30-year-old from Tunisia retired because of difficulty breathing during her first-round match at Wimbledon, where she reached the final in 2022 and 2023, and won't be playing as the hard-court swing begins.
'For the past two years, I've been pushing myself so hard, fighting through injuries and facing many other challenges,' Jabeur wrote on Instagram. "But deep down, I haven't felt truly happy on the court for some time now.
'Tennis is such a beautiful sport. But right now, I feel it's time to take a step back and finally put myself first: to breathe, to heal, and to rediscover the joy of simply living.'
Jabeur also was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2022, becoming the first woman since Serena Williams in 2019 to reach the final at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows in the same year. She fell short of becoming the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam title in the professional era, but she climbed to No. 2 in the WTA rankings the next week.
She is 15-15 this year after her 2024 season was cut short by a shoulder injury, as she played just once after Wimbledon.
Jabeur, popular with other players and fans, thanked the fans in her post.
'Even while I'm away from the court, I'll continue to stay close and connected in different ways, and share this journey with you all," she wrote.
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
31 minutes ago
- CNN
Venus Williams confirms she is engaged to actor Andrea Preti
People in sports Venus Williams TennisFacebookTweetLink Follow Venus Williams' winning return to the professional tennis tour also came with a surprise announcement: She is engaged. After becoming the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match, Williams gave thanks to her fiance, who was in the stands at the DC Open. He is Andrea Preti, who is a Danish-born Italian model and actor, according to the website IMDB. The 45-year-old Williams hadn't played in a tournament in 16 months until entering the event in Washington. She won a doubles match on Monday and a singles match on Tuesday, before losing in doubles on Wednesday. Williams, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, is scheduled to face Magdalena Frech in the second round on Thursday night.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Venus Williams confirms she is engaged to actor Andrea Preti
Venus Williams' winning return to the professional tennis tour also came with a surprise announcement: She is engaged. After becoming the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match, Williams gave thanks to her fiance, who was in the stands at the DC Open. He is Andrea Preti, who is a Danish-born Italian model and actor, according to the website IMDB. The 45-year-old Williams hadn't played in a tournament in 16 months until entering the event in Washington. She won a doubles match on Monday and a singles match on Tuesday, before losing in doubles on Wednesday. Williams, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, is scheduled to face Magdalena Frech in the second round on Thursday night.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tennis world sends flood of messages amid lovely news for Sam Stosur and partner
Sam Stosur has announced the birth of her second child with partner Liz, sparking a flood of congratulatory messages for the Aussie tennis champion. Stosur took to Instagram on Wednesday night to announce the arrival of a baby girl called Emmeline Grace. "And beautiful chaos reigns once again," Stosur wrote alongside a photo of the new bub. "Evie is beyond happy to have a little sister and we are over the moon. We love you so much little Emmy." Aussie tennis great Rennae Stubbs led the well-wishes, writing: "Just another gorgeous baby girl for me to love endlessly! Emmy your Auntie Nae Nae can't wait to meet you!! Sam and Liz, I'm so happy for you both and Evie, you're going to be the best big sis ever! Love you all." Retired Russian tennis player Elena Vesnina wrote: "She is precious. Congratulations Sam!!!" While Aussie player Maddison Inglis commented: "So beautiful!!!! Can't wait to meet her." Fellow Aussie great Alicia Molik added: "Congrats Sam Liz and Evie." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha Stosur (@samstosur) Stosur and Astling had their first daughter Evie five years ago. On that occasion it was Astling who carried Evie, but this time around it was Stosur who gave birth to Emmy. Stosur is a legend of Australian tennis, famously winning the US Open singles title in 2011 when she beat Serena Williams on her home court. She reached World No.4 in singles that same year, and was World No.1 in doubles in 2006. She also won six grand slam titles in doubles - four in women's and two in mixed - including the Australian Open mixed title in 2005 and women's title in 2019. The 41-year-old is now the captain of Australia's Billie Jean King Cup team, helping mentor some of the country's best young talent. Sam Stosur's brave move after keeping relationship secret Stosur has been in a relationship with Astling since 2016, but she admitted she was initially too scared to go public because of what the reaction would be like. After she won the 'Spirit of Tennis' award at the Newcombe Medal ceremony in 2019, she realised she wanted to show her partner the proper recognition she deserved, but hadn't done so in her acceptance speech. 'I was in the car park at the end of the night and something just didn't feel right because I'd thanked all these people who were obviously very, very important to me, but not my partner,' she said at the time. 'And she is a huge part of what I've been able to do. And who I am now. "And that just didn't sit well with me. And I thought, 'Do you know what? Bugger this, I just want to thank her and I want to do this'. So that's why I put it on Instagram. As you get older and you're more mature and you reflect more on things and I thought, you know what, this is who I am.' RELATED: Tennis world explodes after Jannik Sinner makes stunning backflip Flood of support after tennis rocked by news about Wimbledon finalist Stosur ended up revealing her sexuality in a social media post at 3am. 'Once I stepped off stage I was like, 'What are you doing? You've just accepted this award, thanked all these people and the person who is really with you every single day, the person you have the most candid and open discussions with who you want to spend the rest of your life with, you can't mention them on stage?," she added. 'I was like, 'Nah, that's ridiculous, I don't want to do that anymore'. We were walking back to the car to come home and I said, 'I want to do this' and I think I hit send at 3am or something.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha Stosur (@samstosur)
