US OPEN

September 2, 2023

Ons Jabeur

Press Conference

O. JABEUR/M. Bouzkova

5-7, 7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: We'll go right to questions, Ons.

Q. What did you say to Marie at the net, and your thoughts on getting through?

ONS JABEUR: I asked if she was really injured. She's such a fighter. I knew that coming into the match. Yeah, I was telling her, like, I hope she feels better. She told me, I probably pulled something.

Yeah, this is a tough sport. You always don't want to give up. I really respect her for that. I think we both had a great battle tonight, and hopefully I'll continue getting this warrior symbol with me during this great tournament.

Q. Your thoughts on how all the work off the court has made you be able to win these long matches?

ONS JABEUR: Definitely. I was thinking a lot during my matches on a lot of tough practices that I had, especially before coming to U.S. It was super hot in Tunisia, super humid. Honestly, I was fighting to just finish the practice. It would have been much easier to stop the practice, but we didn't.

I have an amazing team behind me that pushes me. I kept thinking about those practices. I think it's so quick but it's paying off. I was really fighting on those practices the same as during those matches.

Q. (Question regarding matches starting so late into the evening.)

ONS JABEUR: That's tough, to be honest with you, for the players that play late. I don't want to be in their place, for sure. I'm happy that I'm going back and will try to sleep. It is tough to sleep for me right now because with all the adrenaline of the match, it's never easy to fall asleep right away.

Maybe I fall asleep watching them, for sure.

Q. Any chance in your mind you could have an easy match, or physically your level is not there right now and every match is going to be a fight?

ONS JABEUR: I don't think there is easy matches. It's okay. I'm testing myself. I love fighting. I trust my body. I know I can go all the way playing three sets, no problem.

Let's see. This is a fun tournament. Not fun starting being sick. I feel like this tournament is testing me and showing me that I have a lot of strength, that I can go really far and maybe have a great results here.

Q. When you thought that Marie was sick, how did that affect your game? Did you ease up?

ONS JABEUR: Yeah, I mean, it's never easy playing someone injured, knowing that this person is injured. I was trying to observe her a lot, try to see where she was hurt. I thought maybe making her run on the forehand, that's the spot where really bothered her a lot. I felt like doing dropshot on her forehand. I did on both obviously, but I felt like the forehand side was the side that bothered her a lot. Yeah, I was tense at times. I couldn't do my shots and everything.

Yeah, I got to say I really focused on her than on myself. I feel like I even forgot that I wasn't feeling that well. Yeah, just I'm glad that I got through this. I think it's never easy playing someone injured. It really gets into your head.

Q. What do you want to work on before your next game?

ONS JABEUR: Definitely my serve I think is going to be the key, especially playing someone that serves very well. So I think I'm going to work a lot on the serve and the plus-one and the return and the plus-one. I think that's going to be very, very important playing a talented young player.

Yeah, we'll try to have fun on the court. That's really important for me.

Q. In the middle of the tiebreaker in the second set, you changed your strategy, maybe taking less risks, trying to move your opponent. What is your assessment?

ONS JABEUR: Yeah, the tiebreak did start kind of tough for me because I feel like I played good the points, it's just the finish. I think I made four mistakes with my forehand. That did not help much.

But, yeah, the key for me was to be aggressive and go to the net to finish the point, but staying in the back wasn't helping. Yeah, I was trying to play more on her backhand and make her run on the forehand and go to the net.

I felt like it took a lot of courage to do that. I'm glad that I did it very well, especially on the end of the tiebreak.