Ons Jabeur to miss Middle East swing as she requires surgery

WTA Tour

Shahida Jacobs
February 8, 2023

Ons Jabeur’s return to action has been delayed as she will undergo minor surgery, forcing her to miss the entire Middle East swing.

The world No 3 was due to headline the inaugural Abu Dhabi Open this week, but announced her withdrawal from the WTA 500 event last week.

The Qatar Open – which starts on February 13 – and the WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships (February 20) were next on her calendar, but on Wednesday she confirmed that she won’t play in either event after her team advised her to undergo surgery.

Her post on Instagram did not divulge why she required surgery and when she will return to action.

“In order to take care of my health situation. My medical team have decided that I need to get a minor surgery in order to be able to be back on the courts and perform well,” she wrote.

“I will have to retire from Doha and Dubai and this is breaking my heart. I would like to say sorry to all the fans out there in the middle east that waited for this reunion. I promise I will come back to you stronger and healthy🙏🏼❤️”

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A post shared by Ons Jabeur أنس جابر (@onsjabeur)

Jabeur made a poor start to the season as she lost against teenager Linda Noskova in the quarter-final of the Adelaide International 1 while she was stunned by Marketa Vondrousova in the second round of the Australian Open.

The 28-year-old struggled with a back injury in Adelaide while she wore a strapping around her right knee at the season-opening Grand Slam in Melbourne.

“It’s not a big injury but sometimes it might bother me. I try to take it one day at a time. I’m going to challenge myself and see if I cannot play 100 per cent,” she said about her the strapping.

The WTA Tour will move to North America in March with the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open the two big WTA 1000 hard-court events before players return to Europe for the clay campaign.

Jabeur has a lot of points to defend on clay and grass as she won the Madrid Open and reached the final of the Italian Open. She also won the grass-court German Open and finished runner-up to Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon last year.

Ons Jabeur