Ons Jabeur shares a different point of view to Jessica Pegula regarding speed of courts at the Australian Open.
There have been plenty of talking points during the first week of action at Melbourne Park, and one of them is the court conditions.
World number one Jannik Sinner spoke of having to play with the breeze on Rod Laver Arena, while his fellow top-ranked player Aryna Sabalenka claimed the conditions are heavy for servers.
But Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula, who are both out of the tournament, have disagreed on the speed of the courts at the first Grand Slam of the year.
What did Ons Jabeur and Jesisca Pegula say about the court speed at the Australian Open?
Both Jabeur and Pegula’s 2025 Australian Open campaigns came to an end before the second week.
But before they left the tournament for the final time this season they both shared their thoughts on the court speeds with reporters.
Pegula, who lost to Olga Danilovic on Friday during the night session, claimed the court conditions were very slow during her match.
Jabeur, who lost to Emma Navarro on Saturday, disagreed, and thought the conditions were much faster. “They’re faster. Who said slower? They’re way faster. For me,” Jabeur said. “I don’t know. I saw Jess was talking about the condition.
“At night it’s always slower anywhere you play in the world. It’s always slower. But the conditions, let’s say daylight is really, really fast.
“I’m not sure if they redo the courts here every year. I honestly don’t think so, because I felt like the balls were really light. It’s kind of flying a bit. The lines are really fast, too.”
Ons Jabeur’s Australian Open run halted by Emma Navarro
Jabeur ended her 2024 season early due to injury and played two tournaments in 2025 before entering the Australian Open.
She had matches under belt heading into Melbourne Park, and made a solid start beating Anhelina Kalinina and Camila Osorio.
But Navarro proved a step too far as the American won an entertaining three-set battle to reach round four at the Australian Open for the first time.
This was just the second meeting between these two players and Navarro has now claimed her first win against the Tunisian.
The eighth seed will face Russia’s Daria Kasatkina for a spot in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
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