Ons Jabeur is not planning on watching much tennis in her time away from the WTA Tour.
Jabeur announced she was taking a break from tennis after Wimbledon last year, after admitting she was not enjoying being on court.
The three-time Grand Slam finalist has extended that break even further after announcing her pregnancy, but Jabeur has confirmed she plans to return to the WTA Tour.
While Jabeur is intending to return to the match court, it does not seem as though the Tunisian plans to watch much tennis in her time away.
Ons Jabeur admits she does not enjoy watching tennis
One of Jabeur’s greatest tennis idols is four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters, who she spoke to in an appearance on the Love All Podcast.
In this podcast appearance, Jabeur admitted that she really does not enjoy watching tennis or any other sport, instead preferring to be within the action.
Clijsters responded by claiming that it can help you as a player if you watch more tennis, and while Jabeur accepted this would probably be the case she revealed that she gets bored watching tennis.
“I hate to watch. I’m not a tennis watcher,” said Jabeur. “I like to play. Same with football, I like to play football, I don’t like to watch. I usually like to be in action.
“I watch from time to time, because Karim [Jabeur’s husband] loves to watch, so he turns on the TV and I watch with him. He’s like ‘Do you want to? I’m like no, I don’t want to watch.”
Clijsters responded, “You know, when I stopped playing, and I obviously had more time to watch tennis, and I did a little bit of TV and commentating, so I wanted to watch to stay updated. The more I watched, what I realised was that I was learning so much more about these players that I used to play against, things that you don’t see when you’re on court with them.
“I was like, I wish I knew all this when I was playing, it actually would have helped me a little bit. For your own confidence, you see players’ facial expressions, and that they doubt, just as much, if not more than you do. There were a lot of things that I picked up that would have been interesting to have known.”
Jabeur: “I know that would help me, but I still don’t do it.”
Clijsters: “We’re all stubborn, tennis players.”
Jabeur: “I really get bored, I cannot stay in one place, I need to do something. I can watch a set, but to watch a long match, no. Or it’s a match you want to know who is going to win, super breathtaking, then I would stay.”
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Ons Jabeur is one of the most popular players on tour to watch
While Jabeur is not a fan of watching other players, many people have spoken about how much they enjoy watching her game over the years.
One of the big factors that the Tunisian is such a fan favorite is due to the variety that Jabeur displays on court, frequently utilising the drop shot, which has enabled her to reach two Wimbledon finals.
This includes Mirra Andreeva, who spoke about how much she enjoyed watching Jabeur after beating her at the 2024 Australian Open.
“Of course I’m happy I played with Ons,” Andreeva said in her press conference. “It was one of my dreams to play against her, because I really like the way she plays. As I said before, I’m inspired by her. So it means a lot, today it meant a lot, this match that I won.”
It is not just WTA players who have been impressed by Jabeur, with Casper Ruud also praising her game in 2022.
“It’s impressive to see Ons (Jabeur),” Ruud once said on Eurosport’s Ruud Talk podcast. “She plays different from many other women.
“She throws in a drop shot, has a good touch of the ball and can play fast winners. I was watching a little bit, couple of matches where she played before I would play in Rome.”
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British WTA player Harriet Dart also echoed a similar sentiment to Ruud when speaking to ausopen.com in 2024, also praising Jabeur as a person.
“I love watching Ons Jabeur,” said Dart. “She’s a very, very different player to a lot of the females and her touch and skills are just out of this world. I’m sure she will win a Grand Slam very soon. She’s been pushing boundaries for her people, and she’s such a nice girl as well. I think that’s what really sticks out.”
Jabeur has stated her goal is to come back to tennis before the end of the 2026 season, but she has not confirmed an exact return date.
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