Belgian former professional tennis player Kim Clijsters has advised Ons Jabeur to “fake it till you make it” after yet another painful defeat in a Grand Slam final.
The Tunisian tennis player was unable to overcome her nerves in the 0-2 (4:6, 4:6) loss to Marketa Vondrousova, which resulted in a second consecutive defeat in the Wimbledon final. She also lost in contention for the US Open trophy last year to Iga Swiatek (Poland) and joins the group of tennis players who have lost their first three Grand Slam finals.
Like Andy Murray, Kim Clijsters needed five attempts before finally winning a trophy, and she broke down in tears with Ons Jabeur in the dressing room.
“When I looked at her during the interview and saw her emotions, it brought back a lot of memories”, said Kim Clijsters. “There’s no secret to success, you just try to give yourself the opportunity to get to that stage again. Unfortunately, you can’t train these things, you can’t train to be in a Grand Slam final, you can only do it within one match. The biggest thing that she probably has to learn is to fake it until she makes it. You can see really, really clearly that the negative emotions are taking over her. If she missed a shot, there was a natural kind of reaction that was negative. When made a great point, most of the time there was no reaction. It just showed that doubt trumps everything”, added she.
Kim Clijsters lost twice in the final at Roland Garros and once each at the Australian Open and the US Open before her first success at the US Open in 2005.
“It’s difficult. But there shouldn’t be any doubt in her mind whether she can do it or not. She can beat all these players, there’s no doubt about that”, said Kim Clijsters. The 40-year-old Belgian, who won four Slam titles. “For me, the most disappointing thing is not so much the loss, but the fact that he was not able to show his best tennis at the biggest event. That’s the most disappointing thing, and that’s why you start to worry – why can’t I, why am I so overflowing with emotions on the big stage? But in the end it feels good when you get it. It’s definitely a long process”, added she.
Ons Jabeur was grateful for her support and encouraged that many other players have gone through similar hardships before eventually claiming a Grand Slam trophy.
“I love Kim Clijsters so much. She’s such an inspiration to me. I grew up watching her play. The fact that she takes the time to give me advice and give me a hug, always be there for me, I think it’s priceless. She used to tell me all the time that she lost four finals. That’s the positive. You can’t force things, it wasn’t meant to be”, said the Tunisian.