Ons Jabeur is here to stay
Much was made over the turnover in the WTA Finals field: four debutantes qualified for Fort Worth, down from the six new faces who played their first Finals in Guadalajara.
For No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur, this is less a revolt and more a revolution, a natural correction after the 18-month ranking freeze that occurred in the wake of the global pandemic.
“Times change,” said the talented Tunisian, who reached back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open. “I feel like even the first time the players that have played the first time here, they were pretty consistent the last few years. You can take Jess [Pegula], Coco [Gauff], me. We always try to qualify. We were maybe 13, 12 in the Race before.
“I feel like nobody saw the changes coming because of the COVID and the ranking, so I feel like the change happened, like, way before. But since the rankings stopped for a while, people didn’t see it.”
Jabeur has been hard to miss in 2022, and after narrowly missing out on a WTA Finals berth last fall, the 28-year-old is aiming to end her breakthrough season on the highest possible note.