World No. 2 Tunisian Anas Jaber will make history on Saturday when she plays in the final of Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam in tennis, against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in a match between two tennis players who reached the first grand final of their careers. .

After beating her German friend Tatjana Maria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the semi-finals on Thursday, she became the first Arab, male or female, and the first African in her professional era to reach the final. At a major tournament, Jaber revealed that she had been determined to win The English Championship since last year, when he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Belarusian Arina Sobolenko.

En route to her first Wimbledon quarter-final and second Grand Slam since the 2020 Australian Open, Jaber eliminated five-time champion Venus Williams and Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, the 2017 champion, in addition to the polka. number one in the world at the moment IgA chevontik.

Since she had never gone beyond the second round in three of her matches until last year, reaching the quarter-finals gave her the momentum she needed to aim for more, according to what she said on Thursday.

When asked when her dream of winning Wimbledon began, the 27-year-old replied: “I won’t lie to you, it started last year when I liked playing here, when I liked the crowd. I haven’t played many games at Wimbledon before. My career usually ended with two laps. First and second. It’s tough on grass, but I knew I was good on grass, the way I play and everything else.”

She revealed: “Melanie (Maillard) who coaches me mentally reminded me of reaching the quarter-finals (last year) so I told her, ‘I will come next year to win the title’ +. She replied, “You. I will do it.” You know that if I insist on something, I will do it. One more step after that. I hope it happens.”

Jaber made it through the first four rounds of this year’s championship without difficulty before having some trouble in the last two rounds as it took her three sets to beat Czech Marie Bozhkova and then her friend Maria.

The most important thing is not to give up and believe in yourself.

Her advance to the Wimbledon final came after a disappointing participation in France’s Roland Garros, her second Grand Slam, where her career ended in the first round, and after her absence from the Australian Open due to injury.

Jaber was one of the most prominent candidates for the Roland Garros title, especially since she went from winning the 1000th Madrid clay court title to reaching the final of the 1000th tournament in Rome, where she lost to Šwiontek.

But Poland’s Magda Linnet excluded her from the first round without affecting her morale in light of the support she receives from the public and the team around her.

Jaber talked about her approach to things, saying, “The most important thing is not to give up and believe in your ability to succeed and be surrounded by great people. I have a great team behind me that always supports me. True, I sometimes felt that I could not succeed, I could not win. Grand Slam title or Grand Slam final. But in general I try to enjoy playing tennis because it’s hard to do. when you play every week and face the possibility of losing every week, it’s really hard.”

And she added, “But for me, I’m trying to remind myself why I played tennis and how happy tennis makes me. As soon as I remind myself of the reason, I feel encouraged and motivated to go and play my next match. “

Until Jaber’s victory over Maria South African Erin Powder-Peacock at the French Open in 1927 and René Schurmann at the Australian Open in 1959 were the only two African players to reach the final of four Grand Slams in the amateur era when he turned professional in 1968 year.

What happened on Thursday for Jaber was “a dream come true through years of work and sacrifice. I’m happy it paid off and I’ll keep working on another match.”

“I know people in Tunisia are going crazy right now. I want to see more Arab and African players in the tournament. I love this game and I want to share my experience with them,” she added.

– Rybakina is happy to represent Kazakhstan –

Wimbledon will take place in the absence of Russian and Belarusian participation due to the invasion of Ukraine, but Rybakina was not prevented from participating, since the Moscow native has defended the colors of Kazakhstan, not her country, since 2018.

“I am very happy to represent Kazakhstan. They believed in me. I never had any doubts about how I feel (my belonging). My journey as a Kazakh athlete began a very long time ago. I went to the Olympic Games,” the 23-year-old said after elimination from the semi-finals of the 2019 champion Simona Halep and the Fed Cup (in the colors of Kazakhstan).

And after reaching the fourth round last year in her first participation in the main draw of the English Championship, Rybakina took a giant step in this edition, reaching the final.

And it took Rybakina, whose best result at Roland Garros last year was an hour and 15 minutes, to clear the Halep barrier.

Saturday’s final will be the fourth between Rybakina and Jaber, who won the last two meetings between them in 2021 in the second round of the tournament in Dubai and the semi-final of the tournament in Chicago, while the Kazakhstani won the first in 2019 in the second round of the Chinese tournament in Wuhan.

The Kazakhstani commented on Jaber’s encounter, expecting “it will be a great match. She is an amazing player, a very difficult player. It will be difficult to play against her falling and flying balls.

Saturday’s match will be between two different players, as Jaber is one of those who shows her emotions and enthusiasm, and Rybakina is calm.

Jaber commented on the matter, saying of her opponent, “She’s not the kind of player who screams at every moment. I respect it. I know that she is a shy person even off the field. Saturday.”