Ons Jabeur makes Grand Slam history as she reaches Wimbledon semifinals


Recovering from a bounce, the world No. 3 overcame a nervous start to beat Marie Bouzková 3-6 6-1 6-1 on Center Court.

But after reaching the last four, she said it took a long time for her personally.

“I’ve been hoping for a long time that I could reach this stage. I fought a couple of times in the quarter-finals,” Jabeur told the media afterwards.

“I spoke to (former world No. 22) Hicham Arazi for a bit and he told me: ‘Arabs always lose in the quarterfinals and we’re fed up with it. Please break this.’ I said, “I’ll try my friend.” We just texted and he was really happy. He said: “Thank you for finally making it to the semifinals. Now you can really go and get the title.'”

A quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open in 2020, Jabeur was about finding a foothold on the historic pitch.

After a sloppy first set in which Bouzková’s defense and speed helped unsettle Jabeur and make untimely mistakes, the Tunisian finally found her footing.

The 27-year-old hit more winners than errors in the final two sets, winning eight straight games going 2-1 in the second set.

And she won eight of the last nine points in the final set to claim an important and game-changing victory.

Jabeur meets first-time semi-finalist Tatjana Maria for a place in the final.

Enjoying her own remarkable run, Maria reaches the semifinals just 15 months after giving birth to her second daughter.

The German and Jabeur are good friends away from tennis, with Jabeur admitting the world No. 103 is her “BBQ pal”.

“It’s so nice to see them on tour with their babies. The fact that she really came back and did everything and she really deserves to be here,” Jabeur said. “She had a really tough draw, won against (Jelena) Ostapenko, won against (Maria) Sakkari. Really, she played really well. I know she can play really well on grass.

“Obviously, she’s hard to play, and I was joking with (Maria’s first daughter) Charlotte, I said to her, ‘Are you going to support me or your mother?’ I try to get all the kids on my side… I’m really happy for her that she’s getting what she deserves. I know she fought a lot. It’s not easy coming back after two babies. It will be a great match between us, of course a lot of respect.”