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A walk from happiness, On Jabeur can dream of a first coronation on Saturday in the Temple of Tennis.
The first player from the Arab world to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam at the Australian Open in 2020, she climbed two more steps this year at Wimbledon.
“
I love everything about Wimbledon, especially the atmosphere.
It was my main objective since the start of the season.
The dream of winning here only started last year when I enjoyed being there.
Previously I was not going far in the table
(note: She only had one match in the first three participations)
even if I knew that I could shine with my game. But my mental trainer (Mélanie Maillard) reminded me that last season, after my lost quarter-final, I had told her that I would come back the following season for the title.
And here I am.
»
Read alsoWimbledon: easy in the semi-finals, Rybakina joins Jabeur in the final
And his journey is obviously the joy of an entire country.
“
I am a proud Tunisian woman today.
I know that in Tunisia it must be madness right now.
I just try to be an inspiration as much as possible, I want to see more Arab and African players on the circuit.
Tunisia is connected to the Arab world and the African continent.
I want to see more players from my country, from the Middle East and from Africa.
I think we didn't believe enough at one point that we could do it.
Back home, they call me the Minister of Happiness.
It's nice of them to call me that
.
The Tunisian, who was asked about her models, first mentioned “
her mother
”: “
She was the one who made me discover this sport and pushed me to always do better.
She made me believe even more in months.
Then I always try to learn from the history of this sport.
I was lucky enough to meet Billie Jean King who is an incredible inspiration to all of us.
She gave me advice and signed her book for me.
She told me to watch a lot of my matches, which I don't usually do, and learn from them.
I'm trying to improve on it
."
The Tunisian will face the Kazakh Ribakyna on Saturday for an unprecedented final: “
It will be a very different meeting from that of Thursday.
She serves really well.
I will have to go back as best I can.
We're going to have to make her work really hard to earn the points.
She can hit really hard and land a lot of winners.
But I think my game may bother her.
“Answer on Saturday in an already historic final.