US Edition
Ons Jabeur donates WTA prize money to Palestinians: ‘Children and babies are dying every day’
Tunisian fights back tears after WTA Finals win over Marketa Vondrousova saying her gesture ‘is not a political message, it is humanity’
The two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur spoke emotionally about the situation in the Middle East on Wednesday, saying that she would donate part of her prize money from the WTA Finals to help Palestinians.
Tunisia’s Jabeur is the first Arab tennis player of either gender to reach the highest echelons of the sport.
On Wednesday in Cancun, she scored what we might in other circumstances call a cathartic victory over Marketa Vondrousova – the Czech who had beaten her in this year’s Wimbledon final – to maintain hopes of reaching the semi-finals. But Jabeur said that the satisfaction of the result paled beside the plight of those suffering in the Middle East.
“I am very happy with the win but I haven’t been very happy lately,” Jabeur said in her post-match interview, which found her close to tears. “The situation in the world doesn’t make me happy
“So I feel like... I am sorry.” She paused for a moment to regain her composure. “It’s very tough seeing children and babies dying every day. It’s heartbreaking. I have decided to donate part of my prize money to help the Palestinians. I can’t be happy with this win.
“It is not a political message, it is humanity,” she concluded. “I want peace in this world. That’s it.”
Jabeur has already made nearly £328,000 through participation and winning one of her round-robin matches in Cancun, and could stand to claim an additional £162,500 with a victory in her final group tie. Should she reach the semi-finals, an extra £44,320 could then be boosted by £620,460 by winning in the last four, with £1.15 million on the line for the eventual champion.
Now ranked at No 7 in the world, Jabeur will face No 2 Iga Swiatek in her final group-stage match on Friday. Swiatek squashed Coco Gauff – who served four straight double-faults at one point – in straight sets on Wednesday night to go top of the table.
WTA responds to player rebellion
Meanwhile, WTA chief executive Steve Simon has written to the players in an attempt to head off widespread criticism about playing conditions, both specifically in Cancun – where the court has produced plenty of uneven bounces – and more generally on the rest of the tour.
His letter stated: “First and foremost, it is clear that you are not happy with the decision to be here in Cancun. I understand that and you have been heard … This is not where we expected to be and the decision for this location was based upon a number of complicated factors.”
Simon then moved on to address tour minutiae, such as the finer details of the ranking system, before promising a review into late-night finishes. This last point is not solely a WTA issue, because the whole sport is struggling to accommodate the growing length of matches. The second day of this week’s ATP event in Paris finished at around 2.15am on Wednesday.
Simon’s letter reflects the pressure being applied by Novak Djokovic’s rival player organisation, the PTPA. Last month, a group of 21 leading women – including Jabeur, who sits on the PTPA board – wrote to the WTA asking for urgent consideration of several issues.
“The tour is becoming increasingly demanding on us,” the letter said, “creating physical and mental stresses that make the tour not sustainable in the long run. We believe that continuing on this path is detrimental to the whole tennis ecosystem.”