US OPEN

September 2, 2022

Ons Jabeur

Press Conference

O. JABEUR/S. Rogers

4-6, 6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: A tough three-setter. Your thoughts on the win, the victory, moving on.

ONS JABEUR: I think we both played really good. It was a tough first set. I had a lot of chances there, but I'm pretty glad that I kept believing in myself and I got the win in three sets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You're into the second week here for the first time. All four Grand Slams you have now done that. What's that mean to you?

ONS JABEUR: Finally (smiling). Just means a lot. You know, I know that I don't play the best on hard court, but it's always amazing to see how I'm improving, how I'm pushing my limits.

You know, I just don't want to stop here. You know how much I love New York, how much I want to be here. Just amazing to put the hard work, even though the preparation for the hard court season wasn't great. But, you know, just the main reason to be here and the main goal for me is always to play good here.

I'm just gonna keep fighting and keep pushing and breaking records here.

Q. You're friends with Anett Kontaveit. Did you watch her match with Serena? If you did, how can that help you if you potentially play her?

ONS JABEUR: Well, I mean, I just felt really bad with the crowd and everything what happened to Anett.

I saw her, and I told her she played really well. It was a great match. After all, you know, she played Serena. It's never easy. Honestly, I thought she was very, very tough mentally, because serving second serve, people talking, hard to concentrate on those kind of moments. I think she played a great match, and I hope she would feel better to have better results.

For me, I need to focus on the fourth round because it's going to be a tough match for me. I've never won against her. That's the main goal for me and we will see what's going to happen after.

Q. If you look at your season, it's been incredible pretty much all the way through, but there was one speed bump at Roland Garros where it was a disappointing tournament for you. I wonder how easy was it for you to bounce back from that and to pick up where you did at Wimbledon? What does that say about your maturity?

ONS JABEUR: You know, just learning a lot from playing like tournaments and how exhausting could be mentally and physically to be in a Grand Slam.

French Open was tough, you know, especially after having great results in Madrid and Rome. I'm figuring this out. Every time someone wins before the Grand Slam it's tough to do great results there.

You know, just gonna learn. The positive thing is next year I don't have any defending points, and no Australian Open and no French Open and no Wimbledon, apparently. So it's going to be great (smiling).

You know, the thing is I'm just learning. This is my second -- well, almost second year as a top-10 player, and it's really just I'm gonna cherish this and keep working hard. The good news is there is a lot of room to improve here.

Q. You were on a big court today. I'm just wondering how, in the beginning, when you step on the court, does it take a while to get used to that compared to your first two matches or did that not play a factor at all today?

ONS JABEUR: No, not really. It felt right to be there. I practiced on that court before. Actually, I love that court. It was really amazing. And also playing on the Grandstand also helps.

But overall, you know, I don't mind. Just sometimes the vision in the court could be bigger, so it's kind of difficult. I feel like I adapted really well, and it was really nice just coming up on the court.

Q. What do you think is going to be the key against Kudermetova? Does it play in your mind your previous matches or is it good you can learn from that?

ONS JABEUR: I mean, it does, for sure. The thing is the pressure on her, she always won against me, and now I feel like I really need to listen to what Issam have to say to really figure out how I'm gonna win this one.

In Grand Slams sometimes you just have to keep fighting and just get the win even ugly, you know, playing ugly.

Q. For you, being from far, far away, how would you describe what you knew of Serena at the earliest time you heard of her and what she means in your country?

ONS JABEUR: Everybody knows Serena there. They actually know the Williams sisters, "Les Soeurs Williams." That's how everybody knows the sisters there.

They are very impressed by how powerful she is and how amazing she is. I got to watch Serena a lot growing up, and like seeing her, how she was really consistent in a lot of things and breaking records everywhere. Her and Venus, to be honest with you. Unbelievable what they did for this sport.

You know, it's just always amazing to see them in the hallways and in the locker rooms. Also you don't see them much sometimes, but I feel like I was lucky enough to play doubles with her, because this I'm going to cherish for my whole life.

It's like winning a Grand Slam for me, you know, (smiling).

Q. How would you describe what she's done in this tournament so far, given the atmosphere, the different pressures personally, of her evolving?

ONS JABEUR: I mean, she's unbelievable. And I said that in Wimbledon, you can expect anything from Serena. After all, she is Serena, and people tend to forget this.

No matter what the age is, and she has a lot of experience. If she puts something in her mind, she will do it. Pretty impressed, especially with the second match she played against Anett.

Even when I practiced with her, I felt she was moving well, hitting hard. It's nice to see her back.

I wish we can meet in the quarterfinals, to be honest with you.

Q. We've talked in press conferences a lot this year how you represent the Arab world and Africa, as well as your own country. Do you have young girls and boys who actually come up to you and sort of say, Hey, what you do is great, I want to do that? Has there been more of that since you were in the Wimbledon final?

ONS JABEUR: Yeah, especially young girls, they come to me and they want to ask for advice. Sometimes I had to take a few calls on Messenger to talk to someone. She was pretty stressed and crying.

It was nice to share the experience. It's amazing. If they ask me the question like five years ago, I would have said I don't know what, but now I feel like I have more experience I can share with them.

It's nice because they look up to me, and they will take my advice. It's really nice. Hopefully like one day I can really share more my experience, I can really be with them. Yeah, I practice a lot in Tunisia, and a lot of young girls, they come to watch my practices.

Q. Playing doubles with Serena, did that experience change the way you think about her, not necessarily in a bad way? Do you get less starstruck now, if that's the right word? Would that help the mental game if you do end up meeting her in the quarters?

ONS JABEUR: Yeah, first time hitting with her I was really stressed. I didn't want to miss any ball, I didn't want to make a bad impression. I feel much more comfortable with her right now, and definitely that helped my confidence a lot.

I just think, just really amazing, the combination of us playing together, it's kind of incredible. She was, like, for a certain time she was apologizing, like, Sorry, because she missed. I was, like, You can miss, no problem (smiling).

Q. Can you tell us a little bit more about this young woman who messaged you and what her situation was? Is she a player? What kind of advice did you give to her? Do you go by one name in your part of the world? Is it just "Ons" because in that section of the world you are as big as Serena?

ONS JABEUR: Yeah, so when girls come up to me, usually they want to how I manage stress on the court. That's usually the question.

Yeah, so my advice is, just, You have to accept it. You're going to be stressed anyway. Part of the process is to accept that you are stressed. Try to breathe, start to take each point at a time. It's okay to cry, because usually they cry. It's fine, you know.

Some girls are really shy, you know. So also, being on the tennis court, my same situation, like their freedom there and it's really unbelievable to be there. It's mostly about stress, crying on the court.

I don't know. Maybe I am. I don't know. See what Serena achieved is unbelievable, and just having maybe 10% of what she did would be incredible for me.

Q. On the court today you mentioned it's a small, small tennis court where you started playing tennis.

ONS JABEUR: I usually forget when you say what you said after the game. You remind me.

Q. Can you talk about a little bit more about how that court looks like and what kind of environment it is.

ONS JABEUR: Yeah, I mean, I don't like to complain about playing on court 5 or 4. Wherever you put me, I play. Same balls, same racquet.

Yeah, for me, I grew up playing in a tennis club where there was only four courts, and it's pretty small. Just it was the surface, it doesn't even exist right now. But, yeah, I usually played in hotels, because we had a lot of Club Med before. So yeah, that's where I started playing tennis.

Even I drew a tennis court on the beach and just started playing. Whenever you give me a racquet and a ball, I just play. I usually stayed most of the day there and my mom was pretty happy because I was tired and go to sleep after.

Q. Piggybacking on being an inspiration to young girls, how did you get started, like at what age? Were there any challenges growing up that might have been against your values or belief?

ONS JABEUR: I start playing tennis, playing at the age of three years old, not really playing, but just to have fun. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of difficulties growing up. Coming from Tunisia, it's not easy to believe that you can be here one day, but thankfully I made it happen. Just I struggled a lot with injuries, especially after the juniors.

Having a game like mine, it's kind of tough, because I had to really adapt on changing the rhythm and everything.

But, you know, just part of the process. I feel like you should always have difficulties to be stronger and to be here one day and face the best tennis players in the world.