Ons Jabeur makes passionate plea to tennis chiefs as she demands ‘respect’
Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur has long been one of the loudest voices in women’s tennis and now she has used that platform to highlight what she views as a lack of respect coming the way of female players.
Rafael Nadal’s emotional return to Madrid and the profile of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz has ensured the men’s event in Madrid has received more attention than the WTA Tour tournament that is going on at the same time at La Caja Mágica over these two weeks.
Now two-time Wimbledon finalist Jabeur has suggested tennis chiefs need to do more to promote the women’s game, as she spoke out after her 6-0 6-4 win against Jelena Ostapenko.
“I feel like definitely tennis is one of the sports that I’m proud to play in as a woman,” said Jabeur.
“I feel like we have a long way, especially here in Madrid and in Rome, in Europe in general. I feel like they need to respect women more and they need to respect how we are playing.
“Some things we feel it, and yeah, in maybe like a lot of things in practices, the way they treat women here and men, they’re completely different. Maybe people from outside, they don’t see it.
“I’m definitely one of the people that I want to speak up. I really enjoy watching women’s tennis, enjoy watching women’s sports in general. I think we deserve better.
“It’s not like we are not making any effort and we are asking for more than what we deserve, for sure.”
The schedule at the Madrid Open is balanced with women’s and men’s matches on the main show courts, but organisers are still battling to recover from the perception that women are not given the same platform as their male counterparts.
The incident that saw Aryna Sabalenka given a smaller cake than local hero Carlos Alcaraz as they celebrated birthdays at last year’s event left a lingering stain on the reputation of tournament organisers.
READ MORE: Wimbledon champion calls for schedule change to ‘make it easier on us health wise’
They have also come under fire for using models as ball girls, in a move that backfired.
“I think women’s tennis has come a long way. Very grateful for Billie Jean King and all the other women that fought hard, Serena (Williams), Maria (Sharapova), all of them,” added Jabeur.
“They’re trying to represent the sport very well. I think a lot of women players need to be aware of it and aware of what’s really happening.
“Sometimes I don’t really think that it’s just a question of money, but also respect. I told you so many times that people would judge women’s tennis without even watching one match. That pisses me off a lot.
“First, we don’t have the opportunity to watch a lot of women’s sports in general, which is changing right now, but I think we are in 2024 and we need more than that.
“I want to open the TV and not just see Women’s World Cup. Men’s World Cup, can I call it Men’s World Cup, as well? These things, it’s small details that make the difference.
“I feel as a woman playing, for me inspiring a whole new generation, for example, here in Spain, I would love to go to the hotel and open the TV and see a woman’s tennis match. I haven’t seen once a tennis match with a woman.
“All they’re showing, obviously I understand there is a lot of Spanish playing, but asking for one match? Even the female Spanish players they are not even showing.
For me, it’s really frustrating to see that. How can you inspire young girls without showing any match in that?
“Then they say, Okay, men’s tennis is better.”
Jabeur’s comments are certain to spark a fresh debate over gender equality in tennis and as always when this inspirational sporting icon speaks, she attracts a big audience.
