Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur falls short at Wimbledon final, loses to Vondrousova

Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur lost the Wimbledon women's championship on Saturday, again falling short of winning a Grand Slam tournament after a historic run.

Sixth-seeded Jabeur lost to unseeded Czech player Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. It is Vondrousova's first Grand Slam victory.

The Tunisian star made her way to the final after stunning second-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in three sets on Thursday. The loss is her second in the Wimbledon final after last year's against Kazakh player Elena Rybakina.

Jabeur, 28, was favored in the match against Vondrousova.

"I'm not going to give up. I’m going to come back stronger," said a tearful Jabeur to resounding applause and cheers from the London crowd.

The Tunisian athlete was born in Ksar Hellal near Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast. She started playing at the age of three on courts at hotels in the nearby resort town of Hammam Sousse, and joined a sports academy in the capital Tunis at age 12. Jabeur showed her talent early on, winning the French Open junior tournament in 2011 when she was 16, according to Agence France-Presse.

Why it matters: Jabeur became the first Arab and African woman to make a Grand Slam tennis final last year when she reached the Wimbledon final. She has become something of a national hero in Tunisia, a notable feat for a female athlete in a country where men’s soccer is the most popular sport.

The Tunisian superstar also has a large fan base across North Africa and the Middle East, and her performances have inspired Arab youths and are regularly covered in Arabic-language media. She has spoken about her desire to see more people from the Africa and the Arab World pick up tennis, which is not as popular as soccer and basketball in the region, and is still not affordable to many. 

“I’m a proud Tunisian woman standing here today. I want to see more not just Tunisian, but African, Arab players on tour,” said Jabeur after reaching last year’s Wimbledon final.

Know more: Jabeur recently weighed in on possible Saudi investment in tennis. She said earlier this month that she hopes the kingdom will invest in both the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which oversees men’s tennis, and its counterpart, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA).

“If it benefits the player, I'm 100% there. I hope in Saudi Arabia they'll not just invest with the ATP — I hope with the WTA [too],” said Jabeur, as reported by Reuters.

This is a breaking story and will be updated