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Ons Jabeur has made her mark on the WTA tour this year. At the Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Tunisian, Arab, and North African woman to reach a Grand Slam final.
In her on-court interviews, press conferences, and other media interactions - she has regularly used her platform to state her joy at representing her people at the highest level. While taking pride in her heritage, she also hopes to see more Tunisian, Arab, and African players make an impact on the WTA tour.
“I'm a proud Tunisian woman standing here today. I just try to inspire really as much as I can. I want to see more players, not just Tunisian but Arab and African players on the tour. I just love the game and I want to share this experience with them," she said after her Wimbledon semifinal win against Tatjana Maria.
Writing for Arab News on Friday, the 28-year-old spoke about the importance of players using their platform to speak about what they believe, though she was also aware of potential backlash and criticism.
"It’s important to me to use my platform to speak about things I believe in. But I also have to be very careful because some people can misunderstand my views. I think if you decide to stand up for what you believe in, you have to accept that there will be a lot of people that can criticize you for that, which is very powerful to understand at that stage," she said.
She touched upon the example of Coco Gauff for speaking about what she believes in. Earlier this year, the American teenager sent a poignant message about ending gun violence and also spoke about the importance of using sports as a platform to convey social messages.
"I love what Coco Gauff is doing, I love what so many players are doing with their platform. Definitely I want to get more involved and speak up about so many things and help my country more," Jabeur said.
"One of my goals is to become World No. 1" - Ons Jabeur
Following her strong performances earlier this year, Ons Jabeur reached a career-high World No. 2 in the WTA rankings. Currently ranked No. 5, the Tunisian wants to take the top spot in the rankings by making improvements to her game.
"On the court, one of my goals is to become world No. 1. It’s a process and it will take time. The process has already started though and I feel if everything goes well, hopefully by next year I can really achieve that goal. Still, for me, the ranking is not as important as my game. I need to improve my game to really deserve that spot, to really handle the pressure of being No. 1 and keep going," she said.
"I feel like Iga Swiatek is doing a great job at handling that top position and she deserves to be there, for now (laughs). She pushes me to do better, I definitely push her to do better, and all of us are trying to inspire each other and hopefully the entire top 10 field will be even stronger than before," she added.
Jabeur is currently in action at the 2022 US Open, where she has defeated the likes of Madison Brengle, Elizabeth Mandlik, and Shelby Rogers to set up a fourth-round clash with Veronika Kudermetova.
