“We were all crying in locker room…”: Wimbledon runner-up Jabeur reveals words of comfort from Kim Clijsters

London [UK], July 16 (ANI): Following her loss to Marketa Vondrousova in the final of the Wimbledon women’s singles final, number six seed Ons Jabeur termed the loss as “painful” and shared how words from Belgian tennis legend Kim Clijsters offered her some comfort.

Vondrousova clinched her maiden Wimbledon title, defeating Number six seed Jabeur of Tunisia 6-4, 6-4 in the 2023 Wimbledon final on Saturday. In a major upset, Vondrousova won her first Grand Slam title. Vondrousova had captured the attention of tennis enthusiasts worldwide by becoming the first unseeded women’s finalist at Wimbledon since the legendary Billie Jean King in 1963 and now is the first unseeded women’s player to win the title.
This was Jabeur’s third defeat in a Grand Slam final and second at London, a tournament she has openly wanted to win above all other majors. She had a memorable outing in London til the final, beating former champions Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka to make it to the title clash.

“I felt I was doing everything right,” Jabeur said in the press conference as quoted by WTA.

“Again, with the same thing that happened last year. … It is painful because you feel so close to achieving something that you want and actually back to square one,” she added.

There are some veterans who know this feeling, for example Clijsters. She was quick to offer some words of comfort to the Tunisian. She had lost her first four Grand Slam finals herself before winning the 2005 US Open and clinching four major titles in total, including Australian Open.

“We were crying together in the locker room. She was telling me all the time she lost four. She is a great inspiration for me. I grew up watching her a bit. The fact that she takes the time to give me advice and to really hug me, always be there for me, I think it is priceless,” she said.

“But that is the positive out of it. You cannot force things. It was not meant to be. It was not meant to be,” she added.

Jabeur said that she could not deal with Marketa’s mix of spins and paces amid all the nerves she had during the match.

“Maybe adapting to her rhythm was very difficult for me,” Jabeur said.

“Plus the pressure and the stress of the final. Honestly, I felt a lot of pressure, feeling a lot of stress. But like every final, like every match I played, I was telling myself it is, ‘OK, it is normal. I honestly did nothing wrong. I did everything that I could.”

“But I think things take time with me. Hopefully, I will be like the others that failed a couple of times to do it and it will come after,” she added.

Kim and Ons are not the only ones who suffered defeats multiple times before tasting championship success. Chris Evert, Simona Halep, Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanisevic all lost three Grand Slam finals before capturing major titles.

Late Jana Novotna, who lost finals at Australian Open 1991, Wimbledon 1993 and Wimbledon 1997 before winning Wimbledon 1998 can also be another parallel to what Jabeur is going through. Novotna also played for Tunisia.

The Dutchess of Kent offered Novotna some words of comfort back in 1997 and the Princess of Wales did the same for Jabeur.

“To encourage me to be strong, to come back and win a Grand Slam, win a Wimbledon,” Jabeur said.

“Obviously, she was very nice. She didn’t know if she wants to give me a hug or not. I told her hugs are always welcome from me. That was a very nice moment and she’ is always nice to me.”

“Will definitely keep learning,” she said. “I think that’s the thing that will keep me going. Otherwise, if I am going to be depressed about it, it is not going to help much. I will try to stay positive,” she signed off saying.