LONDON: Ons Jabeur said her Wimbledon defeat to Katerina Siniakova was a bitter pill to swallow, especially after she had got herself in a great position to become the first Arab women to reach the third round of the grass-court slam.
Jabeur was 5-2 up in the deciding third set and enjoyed match point against the world No. 42, but she lost seven of the last nine games and crashed out 5-7, 6-4, 9-7. Had she won, she would have gone one step further than her compatriot Selima Sfar did in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
“It was a tough one, very tough,” Jabeur said in an interview with Sport360. “This kind of loss is very painful.”
Jabeur was a wild-card entry, so did well to even reach the second round by knocking out Viktorija Golubi in the first round, but once she was there, Jabeur feels she should have made the most of the opportunity. These kind of opportunities, when you can smell a place in the third round of arguably the most famous slam of them all, do not come around too often.
“Unfortunately maybe I don’t have enough experience to hold enough my serve,” said the 23-year-old. “It was the key, and maybe other stuff.”
A very painful loss today I really gave it all but that’s tennis will keep working hard
Next tournament Budapest 100k #yallah #never #giveup https://t.co/sZ838Y4Suy— Ons Jabeur (@Ons_Jabeur) July 5, 2018
Jabeur only won two less points than Siniakova in the match but she only landed 54 percent of her first serves and recorded only a 51 percent win percentage on her second serve. Her serve was a big reason why she forfeited a winning position.
“When you say 5-2, it was just one break up, I know it’s three games but two were on her serve,” Jabeur said. “I should have won my serve, I have to really work on much, much more. I’m working on it, but these kind of matches and these kind of situations I need it much more. It was better at the end of the [Viktorija] Golubic match [in the first round], when I had to win my serve I did win it. I just have to learn from these mistakes.”
Jabeur feels she will be better for the experience of being in the business end of matches at a slam against players ranked in the top 50.
“She acted differently, she wasn’t crying, she was loose, she was hitting all the balls much better,” said Jabeur. “Because I was fighting back, also breaking her serve after. The second set was also a little bit tough. I felt a little bit tired but then I came back much better at the end. I have to absorb it better this loss and then maybe something better will come after, at the end of the season. Maybe if she started like stressing out more I would have won the game but she started playing looser and much better.”
Jabeur pocketed £108,000 ($142,000) for her run to the second round and will pick up a healthy number of ranking points that should improve her position of 130 in the world. She already dropped a fair few places after winning an ITF $100,000 title in Manchester earlier this month without dropping a set.
