Wimbledon 2023 - Ons Jabeur, in tears : "The most painful defeat"
Battue en finale de Wimbledon par Elena Rybakina puis de l'US Open par Iga Swiatek en 2022, l'heure du premier sacre en Majeur n'est pas encore arrivée pour Ons Jabeur. Une nouvelle fois, elle a frôlé son rêve en atteignant la finale du Grand Chelem londonien. Mais alors qu'elle jouait le tennis de sa vie cette semaine avec des victoires sur trois Top 10, Petra Kvitova, Elena Rybakina et Aryna Sabalenka, la Tunisienne était moins bien ce dimanche contre Marketa Vondrousova. Sous le poids de la pression, la 6e joueuse mondiale n'a pas réussi à déployer son jeu habituel et s'est finalement logiquement inclinée 6-4, 6-4. Si elle pourra tirer beaucoup de positif de sa quinzaine, cette troisième défaite en finale de Majeur en l'espace d'un an est forcément difficile à digérer.
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00:00 Yeah, very tough match.
00:02 I think Marqueta played the right match to win this final.
00:07 And yeah, I'm going to learn from it and hopefully come back stronger.
00:12 The Princess of Wales spoke to you afterwards
00:19 and I saw that she gave you a hug as well.
00:21 What did she say and what does that mean?
00:27 Same thing after last year, to encourage me and to be strong,
00:31 to come back and win at Grasland, win at Wimbledon.
00:37 Obviously, she was very nice and she didn't know if she wanted to give me a hug or not.
00:43 So I told her, you know, hugs are always welcome with me.
00:46 So that was a very nice moment and she's always nice to me.
00:50 Were you consulted at all about the closure of the roof?
00:55 And do you think it had any impact on the match?
00:59 Because she's been playing pretty well indoors this week.
01:03 I honestly didn't focus much on that.
01:07 But yeah, I don't know, maybe it helped her today to play good and put more ball in.
01:14 I don't know if the roof was open, would have been a different story maybe for both of us.
01:20 But yeah, it is what it is. It happened.
01:23 So I'm very happy for her that she won her first Grand Slam.
01:26 I know she's a player that has been very injured a lot of times.
01:31 So I wish her all the best and hopefully she can win more Grand Slams.
01:35 I believe Kim Kleistas, Chris Evert and Simona Halep all lost their first three Grand Slam finals.
01:45 Four actually. Kim was just telling me.
01:48 We were crying together at the locker room.
01:53 How much inspiration do you take from the fact that great players have been in the position you are now?
01:57 And I wonder, for someone like Kim to come and take time with you like that must mean a lot as well.
02:02 I love Kim so much. She's a great inspiration for me.
02:08 I grew up watching her a bit and the fact that she takes the time to give me advice,
02:16 to really hug me and always be there for me, I think it's priceless.
02:22 She was telling me all the time that she lost four, I think.
02:25 That's why I know the information. Otherwise it would have been tough.
02:29 But yeah, I think that's the positive part of it.
02:32 You cannot force things. It wasn't meant to be.
02:41 What were you feeling in the minutes before the match as you were walking towards the court?
02:47 What was going through your mind at that point?
02:50 Honestly, I felt a lot of pressure, feeling a lot of stress.
02:55 But like every final, like every match I played, I was telling myself it's okay, it's normal.
03:04 I honestly did nothing wrong. I did everything that I could.
03:09 But yeah, I think things take time with me.
03:12 Again, I said it wasn't meant to be this time.
03:18 Hopefully I will be like the others that failed a couple of times to do it and will come after.
03:26 What do you do when you're on the court to try and fight through that, the stress and the nerves?
03:36 A lot of breathing, a lot of positive talks.
03:40 I try to tell myself that nothing is over. It's going to get better maybe.
03:49 I'm used to losing the first set in the last few matches.
03:54 So I had hoped that maybe it would be better in the next few games.
04:00 But obviously not. So I don't know.
04:03 We'll keep doing what I'm doing. We'll keep learning for sure.
04:06 Because I think that's the key for me.
04:08 Hi, Hans. Well fought.
04:12 First of all, when you said Marqueta played the right match today, what did you mean by that?
04:17 And then I wanted to ask, we saw that you had to change your warm-up clothes after you came out in all black.
04:21 Was that just other things on your mind this morning?
04:23 Oh no, I completely forgot the white rules.
04:26 When you go into a match court, you just dress up as normal clothes.
04:34 And for me, I completely forgot that today I was warming up on centre court, that it has to be all white.
04:40 But yeah, I don't know. It was an honest mistake.
04:45 I think Marqueta just put the ball in, slices a lot.
04:50 I believe that it was a completely different match from the last three that I had.
04:56 So maybe adapting to her rhythm was very difficult for me, plus the pressure and the stress of the final.
05:01 I didn't think she made a lot of mistakes.
05:05 I thought she served good.
05:07 And I think she played maybe a perfect final for herself.
05:16 You said that it's a new you playing at this year's Wimbledon.
05:20 But you have also mentioned that you felt pressure and stress.
05:24 How are you going to cope with that and how are you going to cope with the expectations that continue to grow from your fans?
05:31 The same thing that I've been doing the last few years.
05:36 I've been having more pressure.
05:38 The more good results that I do, the more pressure I feel.
05:41 But it is what it is.
05:44 Like I said, I cannot force anything right now.
05:47 It wasn't meant to be.
05:49 Definitely this match, last year's match, the final of the US Open, will teach me how to win these finals.
05:58 And we'll definitely keep learning, keep being positive.
06:02 I think that's the thing that will keep me going.
06:05 Because otherwise, if I'm going to be depressed about it, it's not going to help much.
06:10 So I'll try to stay positive.
06:13 You said on court that you felt this was the most painful loss of your career.
06:19 I know it's difficult, but can you put into words why it hurts more than the others?
06:24 Because I already lost two finals and this is the third one.
06:28 I don't know. I felt I was doing everything right.
06:31 Again, with the same thing that happened last year.
06:38 It's painful because you feel so close to achieving something that you want.
06:43 And then actually back to the square one.
06:46 But again, just try to get rid of these negative thoughts and continue being positive.
06:54 You said Marqueta played the right match today.
06:59 Does that mean you feel you played the wrong match?
07:01 Or was it execution?
07:03 I did play good.
07:05 I didn't think I played good today.
07:08 So many things that I should have maybe done.
07:10 Not serving well did not help.
07:13 But also Marqueta returned every ball.
07:17 Even if I did a good serve, she was there.
07:20 That didn't help my serve much.
07:22 My backhand wasn't here today.
07:25 Again, I think playing two different players the last few matches did not help too.
07:33 I don't think I played good as well, but that doesn't take away the match that Marqueta did.
07:38 Despite the loss, you've now been to three of the last five major finals.
07:46 Other players can't make that claim.
07:48 What do you think your position is right now in the game?
07:51 Again, that's a positive thing that maybe I should focus on.
07:56 Along being a side of the players that didn't make the cross-slam.
08:02 The first three finals maybe.
08:04 I think, hopefully, I will be able to take the confidence out of it.
08:10 And consider myself as a consistent player.
08:14 Take this experience as good ones, but not bad ones to continue and improve my game.
08:21 Be the player that I want to be.
08:26 But I know this thing, maybe with me, will take years.
08:31 And I will go for it.
08:33 I will put enough work for it.
08:35 For me, my goal is to be a really good, consistent player.
08:40 And unlock whatever is going to come.
08:44 Learn from this match, for sure.
08:47 And hopefully, I want to be one of the players that could win Grand Slams.
08:55 That's what.
08:57 Take two more English.
08:59 This is Mohamed Taf from the BBC World Service.
09:02 You were advancing 3-1 in both sets.
09:05 Do you remember you were changing something at this moment?
09:09 Or she was changing something?
09:11 I think it's related to the fact that I didn't serve really well.
09:14 I was able to break both times, but very difficult to...
09:19 I didn't have the feeling that I was controlling my serve.
09:23 I was maybe troubling her a little bit.
09:27 So that's why it was very difficult for me to win that serve game.
09:31 I wish I was able to hold.
09:34 Especially in the first set.
09:36 Maybe it could have been a different match.
09:38 They were saying on TV that you changed your lock screen to your niece?
09:45 Yeah, my niece and nephew.
09:47 Was there a reason you changed from the trophy to your family?
09:51 I don't know. The trophy didn't work last year.
09:53 So I thought maybe...
09:55 I always put my niece's photo and the nephew's new member of the family.
10:00 So I needed to add him too.
10:02 I love them so much and they bring so much joy to me.
10:06 And I wish...
10:09 They give me a lot of love.
10:11 So seeing them every day on the screen makes me happy.
10:14 makes me happy.