"I didn’t have many expectations for this tournament," admits Jabeur after her defeat at Roland Garros
Ons Jabeur was eliminated in the first round of this year’s Roland Garros. The Tunisian, ranked 36th in the world, was not seeded in Paris and faced Magdalena Frech, ranked 26th, right from the start.
Despite a tightly contested first set lost in a tie-break, the three-time Grand Slam finalist couldn’t maintain the pace and failed to win a single game in the second set (7-6, 6-0). After the match, Jabeur appeared at a press conference and discussed her defeat against the Polish player with journalists.
"It’s very tough. When you reach the quarterfinals here twice (in 2023 and 2024), your next goal is to make it to the semifinals, or even the final, not to lose in the first round. That’s part of the game.
Honestly, I didn’t have many expectations for this tournament because I wasn’t ready tennis-wise. Physically, I’m much better than a week and a half ago, but I don’t have a magic wand to instantly regain my fitness. It’s a very tough period mentally.
I don’t want to be part of that category of players where the result affects me more than it should. I’ll keep working even harder, finding other solutions. I tried new things, but they didn’t work out.
In the end, you either win or lose, and there’s only one winner. Not having played many matches on clay doesn’t help either, but I need to rest because I’ve been training hard, yet the results aren’t there. I’ll try to step back and see what’s going on," Jabeur told Tennis Actu TV after the match.
French Open 
