Meet Ons Jabeur - The Lone Female Tennis Olympian from Africa

The 17 year Ons Jabeur is about to grab the 1st set from Sabine Lisicki 

Far from home, the 17 year old Ons Jabeur from Tunisia is the only female tennis player from Africa competing in the 2012 Olympics. I took immediate interest in her match once I saw the schedule of play for today at Wimbledon park. It was one of those days where both the players and the fans needed patience in abundance! A very very rainy London kinda day! Jabeur's match against Germany's Sabine Lisicki  was initially set to start at 1.30pm on Court 12 but finally started around 6.30pm after several rain delays. I managed to keep busy watching matches on center court and eating strawberries and cream. But it was worth the wait, at least for the few games I saw. Jabeur started a bit slow, falling 0-2 and later on finding her game to break Lisicki's serve, and led 4-3 before the match was suspended for the day due to darkness. During the 33 minutes of play, I saw the young talent from Tunisia show some bold and tricky play. Returning first serves with a drop shot and sneaking in a squash forehand from the centre of the court. She was definitely throwing Lisicki (ranked world #15) off her rhythm. Jabeur, who was ranked outside the top 1000 at the beginning of the year, has moved to world #297 in only 7 months. I need not say more, the kid has got game! And Sabine Lisicki is about to find out when the match resumes on Monday at Wimbledon Park.

I caught up with Ons Jabeur for a few minutes after the match was suspended and here is what she had to say:

Giving thumbs up to Jabeur for representing Africa Tennis

Scramble For Gold: You have such a good game. Did you go through the Olympics qualification or you got selected by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)?


Ons Jabeur: Thanks. I was given a wild card by the ITF


Scramble For Gold: How does it feel knowing that you are the only African female tennis player competing at the Olympics?


Ons Jabeur: I feel very proud. There is also a male tennis player from Tunisia competing. His name is Malek Jaziri.


Scramble For Gold : Great to know. Well, I know you have had an exhausting day with the rain,so I'll cut it short. But "du courage" for the rest of the match tomorrow.


Ons Jabeur: Thanks


And that was the end of my brief encounter with the teen sensational as she left the court.

Ons Jabeur mixing it up as she sets up to hit a one-handed slice backhand

She's got a solid serve too !

                           And it is never really a true day at Wimbledon without a rain delay :-)

(Photos courtesy of Scramble For Gold)