Ons Jabeur captured the imagination of an entire continent in 2022 when she became the first African tennis player to reach a Grand Slam final. She was actually the runner-up in back-to-back Grand Slams – the 2022 Wimbledon and the 2022 US Open. Jabeur rose to number 2 in the rankings too and after having an excellent clay court season 12 months ago everyone expected her to be even better this year. However, the Tunisian got hurt only last week in Stuttgart and the news coming out threaten to ruin her entire clay court season, if not beyond.
To date, Jabeur had a poor 2023 and just as it seemed she was finally starting to click again came this unfortunate calf injury during her semifinal vs Iga Swiatek in last week’s Stuttgart Open.
Jabeur started the year with a disappointing early exit, round 2, from the 2023 Australian Open. She entered the tournament nursing an injury and this played a huge part in why she got eliminated. To try and heal her body properly Jabeur then missed the entire Middle East swing and only returned for the Sunshine Double. However, as expected Jabeur was out of shape and she suffered early exits both at Indian Wells and Miami.
It seemed as though Jabeur has found her form after those early steps though. She won the Charleston Open title beating Bencic in the final. She was also playing very well in Stuttgart on her first clay tournament but early in her semifinal battle vs Swiatek her calf gave up and she had to retire. Here is what we know about this latest injury suffered by the talented Tunisian.
Jabeur Injury 2023: Can She Get Fit On Time For Roland Garros
At the time of writing, Ons Jabeur is 4th in the WTA rankings. She has slipped a few places due to an already ravaged by injuries first few months of the year.
Last Saturday she was forced to retire from her semifinal match against Iga Swiatek at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart after her calf snapped. Jabeur revealed later on that she got hurt as early as the third point of the match.
Then on Monday Jabeur went for scans and the news that came out of that was not good. She has a tear in her calf and the healing forecast is something between 10 days and 3 weeks. This jeopardises her entire clay court season.
Withdrawal From Madrid and possibly Rome
The Matua Madrid Open and Rome Masters events are the two biggest clay court tournaments of the year on the WTA Tour. Jabeur is the defending champion from Madrid as she won the title back in 2022 but she won’t be able to play this year.
With the early forecast for her injury stating that she might need up to 3 weeks to recover Jabeur could possibly miss the Rome Masters too.
“Need More Time To Recover”
Hello everyone, an update on my situation @MutuaMadridOpen pic.twitter.com/Du04vH2uLU
— Ons Jabeur (@Ons_Jabeur) April 24, 2023
In her somewhat emotional social media post, Jabeur said: “Hello from Madrid, an update on my situation. Further to many medical exams done, it shows that I have a small tear in my calf, and I will need more time to recover,”
She also confirmed her withdrawal from Madrid, but refused to rule herself out of Rome just yet: “I am sad to announce that I won’t be able to compete and defend my title this year at the Mutua Madrid Open…”
The Rome Masters starts on the 08th of May and is the final tournament in preparation for Roland Garros, so if Jabeur is to miss out on that too her chances of an early exit, if she recovers on time to play at all, in Paris seem very high.
We wish Ons a speedy recovery and we know that despite a series of setbacks so far in 2023 she will come back stronger and ready to excite everyone with her crafty style of play.
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