Wimbledon 2023: Kate Middleton consoles Ons Jabeur after Wimbledon loss

The sense of disappointment was palpable among the crowd at Cafe Cristalium in Tunis as Ons Jabeur crashed out of the Wimbledon final for the second year running.

In the minutes building up to her defeat, only silence held, as the awareness took hold that the day would again end in disappointment. Across the city, people had either stayed at home, or huddled in air-conditioned cafes to watch the 28-year-old woman from Ksar Hellal reclaim a sport long considered the preserve of the elite and bring it to the masses.

Nicknamed the minister of happiness, Jabeur’s success on the sporting world stage has provided an enduring bright spot under a darkening Tunisian sky.

Sixth seed Jabeur, 28, has now lost all three major finals she has played in and was in tears at the end.

Vondrousova, who came to Wimbledon as a fan last year wearing a cast after wrist surgery, fell flat on her back as the magnitude of what she had achieved sank in.

"I don't know what is happening - it is an amazing feeling," said Vondrousova, who beat five seeded players to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.

After sharing a warm embrace with Jabeur at the net, she knelt on the grass again and looked close to tears as she drew the acclaim of the Centre Court crowd.

Last year Vondroušová was in London as a tourist, still recovering from surgery to her left wrist. And at the start of Wimbledon, seven months on from her most recent injury comeback, no one had expected her to be competing in the championship match, not even the player herself whose husband had remained in the Czech Republic until the final to look after their cat, Frankie.

But Jabeur became the fifth seeded player to fall to the 24-year-old in this tournament as her unpredictability proved difficult for her opponents to overcome, with the Tunisian particularly struggling despite having numerous opportunities to take control of the match.

Despite Jabeur’s loss Tunisia’s love of tennis looks likely to remain, challenging the country’s religion of football for its place in Tunisians’ affections.

Khalil Ben Amore, more used to watching Manchester United, had come to the sport with Jabeur’s success. “How can I not support her? She’s from the same place as me,” he said.

Tunisia has not had an easy time of it of late. Battered by a tanking economy, ingrained unemployment and labouring under the authoritarian rule of President Kais Saied, Tunisia is sorely in need of whatever happiness it can get.

 Read more

Sarah H

Also on site :

• UN renews Sudan ceasefire appeal over ‘unimaginable suffering’ of civilians
• The Supreme Court Cast Its Lot With Trumpism. It Should Be Very Worried.
• Central African Republic election: Who’s running and what’s at stake?