Ons Jabeur on 2023 Wimbledon final defeat: “It was the toughest loss of my career”

Ons Jabeur’s incredible rollercoaster of a 2023 is coming to a television screen near you

Ons Jabeur after losing the 2023 Wimbledon Final (Action Plus/Panoramic)

January 8, 2024

Ons Jabeur has opened up to the television documentary cameras – and has spoken openly about the stress and emotional impact of losing the 2023 Wimbledon final to Marketa Vondrousova, as well as a health scare at the Australian Open last year.

In ‘This is Me’, the Tunisian reveals that if she had won Wimbledon, she and her husband Karim were intending to begin trying for a baby.

“People think I have this pressure because I want to do it for other people, which is not true. There was a personal thing going on there. I win that [final] I could have a baby right away. And that dream faded. I was haunted by fear. After all I’m just a human being, what can I do more?” she says in quotes reported by The National.

The film is ready! My last 9 months has been dedicated to Producing a film about @Ons_Jabeur who battled against the odds to reach the Wimbledon Final – then lost it. But that is only a tiny part of her story.
Hugely proud of what we’ve achieved, this is a taster of what’s coming pic.twitter.com/cfIzo65w4B
— Matt Critchley (@MattCritchley1) December 28, 2023

“It was the toughest loss of my career because emotionally it destroyed me, not only winning Wimbledon, but the idea of having a baby just vanished with the trophy of Wimbledon. So I think that’s what killed me and Karim, we were crying like babies.”

Jabeur: Maybe I was having a panic attack

The documentary producers asked Jabeur to rewatch the match, and she found it too difficult to make it all the way through. She also explained that she had been struggling on the day.

“The day of the final, doing my routine with Melanie [Maillard, my psychologist], I told her, I’m too stressed, I can’t, this is too much, maybe I can say I was having a panic attack,” said Jabeur.

She also spoke about a medical condition she experienced in Australia at the start of 2023 – an enlarged module restricting her airway, meaning she was unable to breathe properly. It required surgery and kept her out of the Middle East swing.

“For once in my life I had to put myself in front of everyone, my health in front of everyone. That’s something I don’t think I’ve done a lot in my career,” she said.