Morocco’s historic run to the World Cup semifinals came as no surprise to Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur, who praised the ambition and spirit of the Atlas Lions’ coach Walid Regragui.
The world No.2 is currently in Abu Dhabi, where she is set to take on former US Open champion Emma Raducanu in an exhibition match on Friday at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.
Jabeur, a history-maker herself as the highest-ranked African woman ever in the sport, flew to Qatar to support Tunisia against France in their World Cup group-stage clash and will be heading there once again for Sunday’s Argentina-France final.
She has followed Morocco’s journey in Doha closely and is convinced an Arab or African team will one day win the World Cup.
“I always believed in that,” she told reporters in the UAE capital on Thursday.
“I just love the Moroccan spirit and, hopefully, each country will follow that path because, honestly, nothing is impossible.”
Regragui frequently spoke to his players about the importance of “getting rid of the feeling of inferiority” against other teams and fully believed in their mission throughout their campaign in Doha.
As a result, Morocco became the first African and Arab country to make the final four at the World Cup before suffering a battling defeat to France on Wednesday.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s so great to see them doing so well,” Jabeur told Arab News.
“In their quarterfinal against Portugal, you know my heart was with Cristiano (Ronaldo) a little bit, but with Morocco, too. I was trying to be neutral, but Morocco always wins. For me, my heart was with Morocco.
“They’ve done a great job, they seemed so focused and I’m not surprised. I know Morocco has done a lot of great things from before and I like listening to their coach.
“It’s really amazing to see how determined he is. He said a lot of amazing things that I’ve been kind of saying from before about the Tunisian team.
“We share the same philosophy, like, ‘Stop you guys, it’s not about the color of your skin, where you come from or whatever; it’s about the confidence, if you know you can do it then you will do it.’
“So that really touched me, the way that he speaks.
“I like how he also spoke to some Moroccan journalists who didn’t believe in him, they didn’t even name him as a coach. It’s nice he spoke to them so now they can realize and they can start to believe even in more in their team.”
Jabeur, who is this year’s Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award winner, is in her final two weeks of preseason training before flying to Australia, where she will begin her 2023 in Adelaide.
She has been working hard with her coach Issam Jellali and husband/fitness trainer Karim Kamoun and took the chance to hit with other players, including Paula Badosa and Anastasia Potapova, in Dubai before making the trip to Abu Dhabi.
“Preseason has been tough, they’ve been killing me, but it’s part of the process,” she said with a laugh, referring to Jellali and Kamoun.
Jabeur reached back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open — unprecedent feats by an African woman or an Arab player in the Open era — and has her sights fixed on the top spot and that elusive Grand Slam title.
“2022 was a crazy year, a lot of emotions, a lot of great results,” she said on Thursday.
“I always like to set the bar very high for myself and I’m always very happy to achieve that. Definitely will use this experience of 2022 to be ready for 2023 with much higher goals. I want to be No.1. I want to win this Grand Slam, hopefully.
“The experience of playing a lot of tournaments and being in the latter stages of tournaments will definitely help me be ready for 2023.
“It’s always nice to be in Abu Dhabi, to be in an Arab country. It just feels like home. Every time I feel Arab fans they’re really supportive and their words really touch me. I hope the stadium will be full tomorrow.”
