The narrative of revenge is a prickly one among the majority of sporting athletes. Most, when questioned on whether payback is at the forefront of their minds ahead of a rematch of some sort, downplay it, instead opting to shine the spotlight simply on their own performance. So, the saying goes, results will follow.
But not Ons Jabeur. Contrary to shying away from it, the Tunisian chasing redemption at Wimbledon after an agonising near-miss last year has instead embraced the concept of revenge and used it as her primary motivator this SW19 fortnight. As she was asked after her gutsy, crowd-inspired victory against Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, what type of match are you expecting in the final against Marketa Vondrousova?
“I’m going for my revenge,” she stated, in no uncertain terms. “I didn’t win against her this year.”
Petra Kvitova, two times a champion at the All England Club, was the first to fall victim to Jabeur’s revenge tour, thrashed 6-0 6-3 in the fourth round as the 28-year-old avenged her 2019 loss. Then it was Elena Rybakina, the defending champion stamped all over Jabeur’s fairytale run in 2022, and Sabalenka, who knocked out Jabeur in 2021.
Every assignment has, so far, been fulfilled. The quarters and semis in thrilling fashion, with Jabeur bouncing back from losing the first set on a tie-break twice to triumph. It points to a mentality that, after two major finals lost last year, could be the key to lucky number three on Saturday.
“I’m working on myself like crazy,” she says. “You have no idea what I’m doing. Every time there is something, I’m very tough with myself, try to improve everything. For me, I always believed in mental, in working on it. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past years since I was maybe 10 years old because I know if you are not ready physically, mentally, you can always win.
“That’s probably what happened in the last two matches.”
And so to match number seven and, on paper, Jabeur is the clear favourite. Ranked higher than Vondrousova by 36 spots – six to 42 – the African is riding on a wave of momentum and is relishing her role as crowd favourite and orchestrator. The 28-year-old is also chasing history once more, looking to become the first woman from her continent to win a singles Grand Slam.
Ons Jabeur is chasing history as the first African women to win a Grand Slam singles title— (Getty)
But underestimate the wily left-hander Vondrousova at your peril. The Czech had only won one match at Wimbledon before this year and missed out in 2022 due to injury. Her journey to the final has been littered with tricky opponents, the most impressive victory carved out a three-set grind against fourth seed Jessica Pugula in the quarter-finals.
Yet, like Jabeur, she’s also been here before – and is also striving for that final step. At just 19, she stormed to the 2019 French Open final without dropping a set, beating Britain’s Jo Konta in the semis, before Ash Barty overpowered her at the last hurdle.
“I think it can definitely help in tough moments,” the 24-year-old said, when asked if her first major experience can help her on Saturday.
Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova is in her second Grand Slam final— (AFP via Getty Images)
“I’ve been through it. Once I was very young, so I think it was just too much for me back then. Definitely it can help.”
Vondrousova, as Jabeur was quite happy to allude to, has got the better of her twice this year too: once at Indian Wells in straight-sets and once in three sets at the Australian Open in January. Jabeur has won their only meeting on grass though, at Eastbourne two years ago; a venue they were ironically set to meet at just a few weeks ago, before Vondrousova withdrew.
It’s all set up, therefore, for an emotional and riveting showpiece, likely to take place under the Centre Court roof with heavy rain expected by 2pm (BST) on Saturday. Jabeur’s tears were caught in full glance of the Netflix cameras in wake of her final defeat last year. A photo of the Venus Rosewater Dish as her phone background was swiftly removed.
Yet, this time tomorrow it could well be Jabeur holding the sterling silver trophy aloft, cheered on by the crowd in attendance and a continent from afar, as the screensaver to savour. There’s just one more piece to the revenge jigsaw to complete.
