La Tunisian Ons Jabeur lost this Saturday in the final of the US Open to world No.1, Poland’s Iga Swiatek. She thus won her first US Open tennis title, the third Major title of her career. The score: 6-2, 7-6 (7/5). Despite this defeat, the 28-year-old champion conceded, like the reed, to bend but not to break. In other words, to consider that all is not lost for her as to her chances of one day winning a Grand Slam tournament. In the meantime, this Monday’s WTA ranking will now place her in 2nd place in the world hierarchy of women’s tennis. In a press conference, she spoke about her match and her ambitions.
Question: How do you analyze your match?
Our Jabeur: She started really strong and put a lot of pressure on me. Me, I was trying to get into the game. It was very hard. Especially since at times, she played really well. In the second set, I had my chances. I came back to the score, I came back… I would have liked, at some point, to be in front and build. Sometimes she didn’t play as well as in the first set and maybe I should have tried my luck more. But to be honest, I don’t regret anything because I did everything possible. I might have liked to serve a little better. It would have helped me a lot. We know how Iga plays in the final, she is very difficult to beat. So I’m going to keep the positive and work on what I missed today (Saturday).
READ ALSOTunisia: sensation Jabeur in the final of the US Open
You have played two Grand Slam finals in two months. Now we will have to wait four months to replay the Australian Open. Are you impatient, or happy to have more time?
It’s good to have more time to prepare. But I have a big tournament coming up, the Masters (October 31-November 7). It’s important for me, I consider it a mini Grand Slam tournament. I always dreamed of playing it. I hope to accumulate more confidence there to prepare really well for next season because I am counting a lot on the coming season. Points-wise, I don’t have any to defend in Australia, nor at Roland-Garros, nor at Wimbledon, which is good. So I am definitely aiming for the place of N.1.
READ ALSOOns Jabeur, this star that Tunisia gave to tennis
Is this defeat harder to swallow than that of Wimbledon?
Wimbledon was hard to swallow. This one will be too. We’ll see in a few days if I managed to get some sleep. But that’s tennis. And that’s all me: I took a long time to win my first WTA title, so I think it will take me a long time to win a Major as well. The most important thing is to accept it, to learn from the lost finals. But I won’t give up. I am sure that I will play other finals and I know that I will play my best.
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