Ons Jabeur aura une deuxième chance de remporter Wimbledon ce samedi ! Alors qu'elle avait frôlé son rêve l'an passé, seulement battue par Elena Rybakina en finale, la Tunisienne s'est qualifiée ce jeudi pour sa deuxième finale à Londres après sa victoire en trois sets sur la Biélorusse Aryna Sabalenka. Menée 7-6(5), 4-2, Jabeur s'est révoltée pour renverser la situation et faire craquer la n°2 mondiale mentalement. Avec seulement 14 fautes directes contre 45 pour Sabalenka, la 6e mondiale a su garder son calme et surtout rester concentrée jusqu'au bout pour aller chercher une troisième finale en Grand Chelem où elle affrontera la surprise du tournoi Marketa Vondrousova. L'heure du premier sacre en Majeur est-elle arrivée ?
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00:00 Yeah, a crazy match. I'm glad that I stayed in the match and was playing better and better after.
00:08 Hopefully, now one more match to go.
00:11 How would you describe the path you've had to take this year versus last year
00:18 in facing all these highly ranked players and former major champions just to make it to the final?
00:25 Yeah, I think this year the draw is much tougher.
00:31 Playing against amazing players that not only they play good on any surface,
00:38 but they play amazing on grass.
00:40 That was very challenging, but also maybe it's a good thing that gives me more confidence
00:45 to be ready for the final and also getting that rhythm of playing great tennis
00:54 to be ready for the next match.
00:56 Congratulations. It seems like last year was incredible,
01:02 but it seems like you're playing at an even better level this year.
01:05 It's obviously been a difficult year with a lot of injuries,
01:08 so I'm just curious what the struggles of this year have given you and how they've helped you in any way.
01:17 The first thing that comes to my mind is patience.
01:20 It taught me how to be very patient and accept whatever happened to me with the injury
01:26 because it was out of my control. I couldn't do anything about it.
01:30 I was trying my best to be ready for the competition.
01:33 But, yeah, if you tell me you get injured and be in the final of Homble, then I will take it.
01:40 Congratulations. You said on the court that the old you would have lost this match.
01:47 I just wondered how old are we talking? Would you, 12 months ago, have lost that match?
01:54 Probably, yeah, 12 months ago, for sure.
01:59 Maybe also a little bit before, like six months ago. It's a different player.
02:06 I'm working on myself like crazy. You have no idea what I'm doing.
02:13 Every time there is something, I'm very tough with myself and try to improve everything.
02:19 I'm very impatient sometimes, which is not good.
02:22 That's why maybe the injuries did slow me down and teach me how to be patient and accept what's going on.
02:29 For me, I always believed in mental, in working on it.
02:36 That's what I've been doing for the past years, since I was maybe 10 years old.
02:42 I know if you are not ready physically, mentally, you can always win.
02:46 That's probably what happened in the last two matches.
02:49 Hi, Hans. Howard Fendrich with the Associated Press.
02:54 Is it fair to say that last year here showed you that you could win a Grand Slam tournament?
03:02 Something maybe you weren't previously believing or aware of?
03:07 I'm also wondering if there are things that you can take away from last year's final here
03:14 that you think you can apply and help you with Saturday this time.
03:19 Last year was my first final of a Grand Slam.
03:24 Definitely getting closer to winning the Grand Slam that I always wished.
03:32 I would say I always believed, but sometimes you would question and doubt it,
03:37 if it's ever going to happen.
03:40 Being in the last stages, I think it does help you believe more.
03:45 For me, I'm going to learn a lot from not only Wimbledon's final, but also the US Open final.
03:53 I'll give it my best.
03:56 Maybe this year was all about trying two times and getting it right the third time.
04:01 So, let's see.
04:02 Hi, Alna Torano from La Repubblica. Congratulations.
04:07 What did you change after being down 4-1 in the second set?
04:12 It wasn't 4-2.
04:14 4-2. Apologies.
04:18 For me, it was just one serve. One game, one serve.
04:25 I just wanted to try to break her.
04:30 It was very difficult for me to return her serve.
04:32 Especially now, she was mixing a lot.
04:35 Even the speed was difficult.
04:38 I was like, "Honestly, I'm not going to give a shit. I'm just going to go in and hit my return."
04:44 It was coming. I was returning much better.
04:48 She missed some shots that did help me stay in the game.
04:55 I was fighting every point. We just waited for a little bit of chance to get the game.
05:02 That's what happened.
05:03 Who do you think will match? Are you expecting a final against a player like Roma Saba?
05:10 I'm going for my revenge. I didn't win against her this year.
05:14 She has good hands. She plays very good.
05:18 Honestly, I will try to focus on myself a lot.
05:23 I'm not sure how she's going to play.
05:25 Second Grand Slam final, I believe.
05:28 We're both hungry to win.
05:31 Whoever deserves it more will win.
05:35 Hi. I spoke with a few of your fans before the final.
05:41 They called you the Minister of Happiness for Tunisia.
05:43 How are you dealing with the hopes and expectations of people who think you bring them so much joy?
05:52 The good thing about those people is that they always tell me, "Win or lose, we love you."
05:57 That's a great word to hear.
06:00 I always try to remember that even though I know everybody wants me to win.
06:05 They're funny because a few fans are texting my mental coach, giving her advice on how to coach me.
06:11 I'm sure they texted Issam too and Karim.
06:18 For me, there is one goal. I'm going for it. I will prepare 100%.
06:22 Hopefully, I can make history, not just for Tunisia, but for Africa.
06:29 You mentioned you played all these Grand Slam champions in the run-up to this final.
06:40 Now you're playing someone who's not a Grand Slam finalist,
06:44 and certainly doesn't have the resume of the players you played beforehand.
06:48 How do you prepare yourself mentally for that kind of challenge
06:53 compared with the challenge that has come in the previous matches, the last few days?
06:59 I think a final is a final.
07:02 Playing someone a Grand Slam champion or not is going to be very difficult.
07:12 It could happen for both. Whoever can handle the emotions more,
07:16 whoever is more ready on the court will definitely win that match.
07:20 That's why I said I want to focus more on myself.
07:24 I want to make my path worth it, winning all these Grand Slam champions to be in the final.
07:31 I'm going full in and hopefully this time will work.
07:40 Technically speaking, you're one of the few players that are really good at slicing at that high level.
07:47 Everybody hits as hard as they can.
07:50 How do you feel being somehow an exception in the top players, playing differently?
07:56 How do you go on court with somebody like Arena, who has a server which is somehow unbelievable in tennis?
08:08 That's the beauty of the sport. You have two kinds of people.
08:11 Not just the game, but the character is so much different than me or her or any other player.
08:17 It's fun to have this on tour, at least in the top 10.
08:23 It's fun to have some mixing a little bit.
08:28 It's fun for you guys to watch too, not hitting all the time.
08:34 Sometimes you really need to find the right moment to do those shots.
08:40 With someone powerful like Arena, it's very tough to be able to play my game.
08:45 I'm trying to learn how to do that more and more. I hope today will help too.
08:51 I want to ask about your coping mechanisms.
08:59 We saw her coping mechanism. She was really loud and hitting the ball really hard.
09:04 We didn't figure out what your coping mechanism is.
09:08 Can you take us through it?
09:11 She was screaming for both of us, I guess.
09:14 I couldn't even scream with her. It's tough.
09:18 It is true. That's the thing about playing Arena.
09:24 She's there. It's funny because when I had the match point on her serve, the crowd was cheering for me.
09:31 I was like, "Please don't cheer. She will get angry and ace me."
09:35 She did actually. She got so angry that she aced me.
09:39 I tried to stay calm. I did get angry a lot because I wasn't accepting that she was serving very well.
09:49 I was finding a way. Staying in the match, that's how I coped with playing today.
09:55 Hi, Anze. I'm April Wallace from the Washington Post.
09:59 You mentioned you're working on your patience. How do you go about becoming a more patient person?
10:04 Why is that a good quality for someone who's trying to win a first Grand Slam?
10:09 First, you're waiting to win a first Grand Slam, so you have to be patient. That's one.
10:16 Two, from these matches, I'm learning a lot how to stay in the game.
10:20 I feel like the best test for me is to stay in the game, to accept the fact that, for example,
10:27 playing someone like Arena or Alina, making aces, even if you're winning the game Love 40,
10:35 she can make three aces. What can you do about it? You have no control.
10:40 For me, it's trying to be patient and wait for that moment that you can prove your game.
10:46 That's basically what happened in 4-2 today. I wasn't returning very well.
10:51 I tried to put the ball in, and it clicked in that moment.
10:57 Also, my team always looked at me and said, "Be patient. Don't worry. It's going to happen.
11:02 It's going to come." That's basically how tennis works sometimes.