No dearth of ambitious tennis players in Arab world: Jabeur

Dubai - Jabeur, who stunned 14th seed Pavlyuchenkova in the first round lost to Wang

Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur wants to see more Arab players at premier events like the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Jabeur, who stunned 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round after coming through the qualifying rounds, lost her second round match to Qiang Wang of China 6-3 6-1 on Tuesday.
"I mean it was tough for me physically to handle her today. She plays really good tennis. I tried to maintain my level and play my game, but it wasn't probably my day," Jabeur said after her second round defeat.
But the 22-year-old player will return home in a positive frame of mind after showing her ability to take on the big players on a big stage.
And the world number 189 says Arab tennis needs more players at such stage for the development of the game.
"I'm hoping to see more players either from my country or other Arabic countries to compete and be in at least top 500," she said at her post-match Press conference.
"We don't probably have the mentality to be in professional tennis. I think we don't have the good strategy to practice.
"We have to have a good schedule programme to practice and to be like professional always, I mean, on the court and off the court.
"We have to really work hard to be in that place. I hope they (Arab players) are doing a good job. I don't know what actually they are doing, but I hope they are doing the right things and trying to be one of the best," she added.
Jabeur says, though, there is no dearth of ambitious players in the Arab world.
"I can see the changes. The players want to compete at the highest level. I know there are a lot of young players. They want to be in the top. They see, like, the big players and they want to be in their spot. They want to win.
"They have the energy to do it. But, as I said, they need a good programme."
Talking about her own game, Jabeur says she needs to have more tournaments like Dubai in order to improve her ranking.
"I am really happy with this tournament, so hopefully I will continue like this and remain positive and looking forward to the next tournaments," she said.
"I mean, first of all, I had to qualify, and I did it. Then I won the first round. I wanted to go as far as I can in this tournament. I didn't want to really end like today. I was hoping to play better, or maybe it would have been better to lose in three sets.
"But, you know, this is tennis. I'm keeping positive energy for the next tournaments.
"Overall, I'm proud to represent the Arab world here. It was special to win here. It would have been great if I had gone to the quarterfinals or something.
"But it's a premier event. And my ranking is going to get better. I hope to come back stronger next year. Hopefully I will be playing on centre court and have more people to cheer for me."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com