American tennis star Coco Gauff and Tunisian player Ons Jabeur‘s Belin Ladies Open moment has left their fans in surprise. While the duo recently met at the French Open quarterfinals, their two-year-old on-court incident left a mark on the fraternity. Now that Gauff and Jabeur are back attending the Berlin Ladies Open, they have now showcased some “Things that only happen in tennis”.
The official Instagram page of the Berlin Ladies Open shared a clip, where Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur engaged with an executive to speak about their 2022 semifinal encounter. During that match, one of Gauff’s serves accidentally hit Jabeur and made her fall on court. However, Jabeur later confirmed that she wasn’t badly hurt.
In the clip, Coco was spotted saying, “That was my target. Was to go body, but obviously not to hit her.” Following Gaugg’s statement, Jabeur also dropped her thoughts on what had unfolded. “I didn’t have the best reaction, but at least I didn’t have the ball in my face for sure. I mean obviously Coco’s serve’s unbelievable,” she said.
Despite dropping a hard hit against Ons Jabeur, Gauff still had to accept defeat against the Tunisian WTA star. Jabeur pulled off an amazing 7-6(4) and 6-2 to snatch her entry to the finals against Belinda Bencic. Two years later, the reigning US Open champion defeated the Tunisian tennis star in the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros tour by 4-6, 6-2, and 6-3.
Jabeur, who is friends with Sabalenka and Badosa, is on good terms with Gauff. Although they haven’t officially confirmed their friendship, Jabeur has always appreciated the American. In fact, when Jabeur defeated Gauff in the Berlin Ladies Open 2022 semifinals, she praised Gauff’s tennis skills.
Ons Jabeur calls Coco Gauff “a great player”
Jabeur, known for her humorous presence on screen, surprised the fraternity when she complimented Coco Gauff after defeating her at the Berlin semifinals two years back. Defining the US Open 2023 champion’s amazing skills, Jabeur said, “You have to be this good to beat Coco, you know. She’s a great player,”
The Tunisian further confirmed she had “no expectations” of defeating a star like Coco Gauff at her debut tournament on grass. Gauff, on the other hand, returned the compliment, after defeating her at the French Open quarterfinals, saying, “She was playing really well the whole match, she was hitting a lot of winners against me – which is not something I’m used to with anybody.”
Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur’s funny banter from the Berlin Ladies Open showcases how anything can happen in tennis. More than that, it showed them that two players can choose to be respectful towards each other while keeping aside their on-court rivalry. This is what often turns players into legends whom people look up to for inspiration.