Wimbledon finalist to take break from tennis after retiring in tears on court

Ons Jabeur's 2025 Wimbledon campaign didn’t even last longer than one set, with the two-time runner-up forced to retire from her opening match against Viktoriya Tomova. Jabeur looked distraught as she trundled off the court following her withdrawal, with the Tunisian unable to hold back the tears.

Speaking after the early exit, Jabeur admitted her struggles came as a surprise, given she’d been practising well heading into the competition. What’s more, the 30-year-old revealed she’s keen to “disconnect” from tennis and “enjoy life outside” of the sport.

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Jabeur stated: "I wasn’t expecting not to feel good. I’ve been practising pretty well the last few days but I guess these things happen. I’m really sad. It doesn’t really help me with my confidence and what I keep pushing myself to do, even though it was a very tough season for me. So I hope I’m going to feel better and we’ll see what’s going to happen."

Before adding: "[I will] definitely try to disconnect a little bit from tennis and try to just enjoy life outside tennis, recover and spend a little bit of time with the family and hopefully that could recharge me. Definitely ‘rest’ is the word for it."

Having been as high as second in the world, Jabeur has since dropped down to 59 in the rankings and is at risk of plummeting even further following her premature Wimbledon exit. Jabeur had spoken about her optimism heading into the London slam, admitting she had previously lacked self-belief.

Jabeur told The National: "It's always, I think, mentally. Because if you're mentally ready and want to do everything, I think it's easier to overcome any physical struggle or anything. But yeah, being on and off didn't help much. The ability of believing in myself that I can come back like before, it's been a bit low and that really affected me.

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"So yeah, it’s just about a lot of believing in myself more than ever because coming back at a certain level, it's never easy. So I hope I can overcome that. Sometimes two, three matches will give you the confidence and the ability to know that you can do it. Right now, I need to trust more my body. I need to hopefully get better on the court and find my movements."