Ons Jabeur admitted to being emotional after receiving a heartfelt message from Andy Roddick following her second Wimbledon final loss. The Tunisian broke down during the ceremony while receiving the runner-up trophy and described it as “the most painful loss of her career”.
In his first column on the Betway blog, Andy Roddick wrote about resonating with the World No.5, having suffered three Wimbledon final losses himself, all three against the 21-time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer.
Roddick revealed he had sent a private message out to Jabeur after the Wimbledon summit clash expressing his faith in her.
‘Listen, if you ever want to chat, I’ve been where you are right now. But I have more faith in you winning Wimbledon than I ever had in myself winning Wimbledon. Take a breath, take a minute, make sure you prepare, keep your fitness going,” Roddick wrote to Jabeur.
In a media interaction ahead of the Cincinnati Open, the 28-year-old referred to the former US Open champion’s message. Ons Jabeur stated that she was “happy crying” when she received it and mimed herself scrolling on her phone in tears.
“I got a lot of amazing messages. Like, Andy was one of the ones I was surprised with. And obviously, I was crying, you know, happy crying. I don’t know what it was, but it was very nice of him,” she said.
Jabeur is currently gearing up for her first appearance since Wimbledon at the Cincinnati Open.
Ons Jabeur draw at the Cincinnati Open 2023
Ons Jabeur is set to begin her Cincinnati Open campaign ahead of the final Grand Slam event of the year at the US Open.
She is seeded fifth in the tournament and is placed in the fourth quarter where she is likely to face stiff competition from Donna Vekic, Victoria Azarenka, and 11th seed Barbora Krejcikova en route to the quarterfinals.
She will also have to possibly face the likes of Daria Kastkina and World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka who are placed in the bottom half of the same quarter.
In case the Tunisian comes out on top of her quarter, she might have to battle it out with top seed Iga Swiatek, defending champion Caroline Garcia or Elena Rybakina who are also eyeing the Cincinnati trophy.
Jabeur has received a first-round bye and will square off against the winner between Lin Zhu and Anhelina Kalinina in the second round of the tournament on Wednesday, August 16.
