Ons Jabeur, number two at the Australian Open, fought her way into the second round with difficulty. After that, she caused a few laughs.
Tennis star Ons Jabeur caused laughter after her three-set victory over Slovenian Tamara Zidansek. The Tunisian had prevailed in the first round of the Australian Open after a hard fight 7: 6 (10: 8), 4: 6 and 6: 1 and was then visibly relieved, but also went to the microphone exhausted for the after-match interview .
“It was a long match that went late into the night. Is the ice bath part of the regeneration now?” the official tournament interviewer asked Jabeur after the match in the Rod Laver Arena.
“Yes, an ice bath – and I’m going to put my husband to work tonight,” Jabeur said, smiling, “and let him massage me a lot. It’s about massage, people, massage,” she added, seeing the reaction of the laughing audience perceived that she had probably suspected something suggestive behind her statement.
After the thunderous applause from the audience, the 28-year-old added an explanation. “For those who don’t know, my husband is also my fitness coach and does everything for me,” which elicited renewed laughter from the stadium.
Jabeur opponent not yet determined
The top athlete has been dating 36-year-old Karim Kamoun, a Russian-Tunisian fitness trainer since 2015, who has been working with Jabeur in this capacity since 2017. Before that he was a fencer himself.
Incidentally, it is not yet clear how Jabeur will continue in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. In the second round she meets either the Czech Marketa Vondrousova or the American Alison Riske-Amritaj, who only have to finish their duel on Wednesday.
With the score at 4:1, 15:30 for Risek-Amritaj, the game on Court 6, like so many other games on Tuesday, had to be interrupted due to a storm and postponed to the following day.
