Ons Jabeur: Limited game time an advantage ahead of Roland Garros
Ons Jabeur has not let her first-round exit in Rome deter her ambitions in the upcoming French Open, which kicks off on May 28th.
In a pre-tournament interview, the world No. 7 said: “Maybe it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of matches coming in or the confidence is high. Maybe this year is better that I have no matches under my belt and just trying to get through the journey.”
A strong favourite for the tournament, Jabeur explained that Roland Garros is the introduction to tennis for many in her home nation of Tunisia. The 28-year-old, who grew up playing on clay, agrees with comments from the world No.1, Iga Swiatek, that she is in fact one of the top clay players on the women’s tour.
‘’I love clay, I love playing on clay; it’s probably the only surface that I don’t need matches under my belt to play good.’’
On the back of winning a title on green clay at Charlestown, Jabeur said “I feel like I was playing correct tennis, I was playing the tennis that I needed to play and everything went my way. I played, I think, the best final of my career. Everything was meant to be there.”
The Tunisian had high hopes for the Stuttgart open in April before sustaining an injury forcing her to retire in the early moments of the semi final against rival and top women’s seed Swiatek. Since then, her match time has been severely curtailed leaving her unable to defend her title in Madrid and losing in the first round of the Italian Open where she was runner up last season.
Despite her recent challenges and less than favourable outcomes, Jabeur has self-belief in her title bid as she continues the battle for her maidan Grand Slam title.
“For me, maybe I have less pressure this Roland-Garros but you know I like pressure, so I’m trying to find the good pressure to keep me alive and play a good game.
“I think I will be able to have great results at Roland-Garros.”
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