Berlin: Following her success in the German Open, where she clinched her third career title on Sunday, Tunisia’s tennis ace Ons Jabeur will partner American legend Serena Williams in women’s doubles at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, England this week.
Ons Jabeur won her second title of the season at the German Open and joined Australia’s Ashleigh Barty and Poland’s Iga Swiatek as the only players to win titles as the No.1 seed this season. The 27-year-old will rise to a career-high of No.3 on Monday and she continues to sit firmly behind Swiatek at No.2 on the Race to the WTA Finals.
As if Jabeur’s superb season hasn’t already checked all the boxes, her next headline-making task will be teaming up with Serena. When the Tunisian-American duo takes the court for their first-round match against Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, it will mark Serena’s first match on the WTA Tour in nearly 12 months, wtatennis.com reports.
“She’s such a legend and such an example for our sport. I’m really nervous to play (with her),” said Jabeur. “I wanted to tell everyone but obviously I couldn’t. I told my family, but even my close friends, I didn’t tell anyone.
“Excited, really lucky that she picked me. I’m pretty glad that I can share the court with her. I always watched Serena playing and always supported her. She’s such a legend and such an example for our sport. I’m really nervous to play. I hope the match will be great and we’ll have great matches.”
The pairing came about after Eric Hechtmann, who has been Venus Williams’ coach since 2019 and is now working with Serena as well, reached out to Jabeur’s coach Issam Jellali before the French Open to see if there was any interest.
“I don’t know why she picked me to be honest. Maybe she watched Madrid,” Jabeur said. “I met her a few times outside the court and she was always nice. I remember exchanging pins with her in Rio. I respect her so much.”
Jabeur will be just the sixth woman to play doubles with Serena, joining Venus, Martina Navratilova, Alexandra Stevenson, Alison Riske, and Caroline Wozniacki. While she has never faced Serena in a match, Jabeur has spent more time on tour in practice and conversation with Venus.
–IANS