In the neighbouring Tennis Club de Tunis, Jabeur’s name typically elicits nothing but smiles of recognition from the young girls there, their numbers swollen by the legions of new students, busily signing up for the club’s tennis programme in the wake of Jabeur’s success. How she was introduced to the sport aged three by her mother, playing on the courts at the hotel resorts on the coast, progressing to her first club at Hammam Sousse and from there to the Lycée Sportif el Menzah in the capital, where she honed her game. She’s a strong and powerful woman.” Jabeur’s story is known to every child in Tunisia. “She wins so much and it makes me feel proud. “She’s a professional,” Aya Soltani, a 22-year-old waitress said, between juggling orders for drinks. Coming from a middle-class home in the country’s centre, she penetrated a sport most often associated with the elites of the capital and coast.
Nicknamed the minister of happiness, Jabeur’s success on the sporting world stage has provided an enduring bright spot under a darkening Tunisian sky.įor a country that has produced its fair share of female athletes, Jabeur has captured the imagination in ways few others could hope for.
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