“It’s a question of respect” – Ons Jabeur calls for better attitudes to women’s sport

The Tunisian says that there is still plenty to do to promote women’s sport

Ons Jabeur in Madrid in 2024 (Zuma/Panoramic)

April 29, 2024

Ons Jabeur has spoken about the need to invest in and support women’s sports – and called for the governing bodies and media to do better.

And she didn’t exempt tennis from her criticism.

Describing tennis as a sport she is “proud to play in”, she reflected on the rise of superstardom of basketball player Caitlin Clark as well as traditionally male-dominated sports such as soccer.

“I feel like we have a long way [to go], especially here in Madrid and in Rome, in Europe in general,” she said in her press conference after defeating Jelena Ostapenko to reach the Madrid quarter-finals. “I feel like they need to respect women more and they need to respect how we are playing.

“Some things we feel it, and yeah, in maybe like a lot of things in practices, the way they treat women here and men, they’re completely different. Maybe people from outside, they don’t see it.

“Yeah, I’m definitely one of the people that I want to speak up. I really enjoy watching woman’s tennis, enjoy watching woman’s sports in general. I think we deserve better. It’s not like we are not doing any effort and we are asking for more what we deserve, for sure.”

Jabeur: People judge women’s sport without watching it

She explained that people judged women’s sport without ever seeing it, which perpetuated a vicious circle of lack of coverage and lack of investment.

“I think women’s tennis has come a long way. Very grateful for Billie Jean King and all the other women that fought hard, Serena, Maria, all of them. They’re trying to represent, you know, very well the sport. I think a lot of women players needs to be aware of it and aware what’s really happening.

“Sometimes I don’t really think that it’s just a question of money, but also respect, because sometimes I just, you know, and I say it again and I told you so many times that people would judge women’s tennis without even watching one match. That pisses me off a lot.”

And it does not just happen in tennis, she said.

“‘Okay, let’s watch football.’

“What kind of football? Is it man football? Is it women football? Even us – I grew up just opening the TV, like, ‘Okay, let’s go watch football, Ronaldo, this, this, and that.’

“First, we don’t have the opportunity to watch a lot of women’s sports in general, which it’s changing right now, but I think we are 2024, we need more than that. I want to open the TV and not just see Women’s World Cup. Men’s World Cup, can I call it Men’s World Cup, as well? These things, it’s small details that makes the difference.

“I feel as a woman playing, for me inspiring a whole new generation, for example, here in Spain, I would love to go to the hotel and open the TV and see a woman’s tennis match. I haven’t seen once one tennis match of woman. All they’re showing – obviously I understand there is a lot of Spanish playing, but asking for one match? Even the female Spanish [players] they are not even showing.

“For me it’s really frustrating to see that. How can you inspire young girls without showing any match in that? Then they say, ‘Okay, men’s tennis is better.'”