2025-11-05 11:50:16
Ons Jabeur suffered from depression due to the demanding nature of the tennis schedule.
The Tunisian player announced in July that she was taking an indefinite break from the sport to focus on her mental health and has urged the governing bodies to listen to the players’ concerns about expanded tournaments.
Jabeur told Sky Sports: “The schedule is killing everyone. I’m not the first one to stop playing. I feel like I saw [Beatriz] Haddad Maia stopping, [Elina] Svitolina as well. It’s tough. I hope the tennis community will listen to us and lower some of the tournaments.
“I think it’s more like tournaments piling up, for example, Doha, Dubai. It’s my favourite and I want to play there, but two 1000 tournaments in a row? It’s too much. And I feel like they want to add more. Also the two weeks, 1000 tournaments. I don’t know whose idea it was. It’s such a bad idea. None of the players like it.
“I think the media also, they don’t like it. So, you stay too long there. You feel like instead of stressing for one week, you have two weeks very intense. People think that we have more time, but actually, no, it’s too long.”
Jabeur – nicknamed ‘The Minister of Happiness’ because of her cheerful disposition – has not played since retiring from her opening round match at Wimbledon earlier this year and has not put a timeline on her return to competitive action.
The three-time Grand Slam finalist said: “I’m coming back when I feel like it, when I feel happy again.
“I think it is time to speak up and to change this. I feel like they see us as robots, but not as human beings anymore on the court. Just play, play, play.
“You don’t want to disappoint your team and then your sponsor. And then you look at the ranking, I’m losing points. What should I do? Should I play more? So for me, it’s like all that I’m going to put away. Thankfully, everyone was really supportive from my side and even if they were not, I’m putting myself first, no matter what.”
Visit Bang Premier (main website)
