Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur suffered a shock Wimbledon third round exit as the two-time runner-up was beaten 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) by Ukrainian 21st seed Elina Svitolina on Saturday.
Jabeur had reached the previous two Wimbledon finals, but the 10th seed’s hopes of making three in a row were dashed in stunning fashion on Centre Court.
The 29-year-old’s wait for a first Grand Slam title goes on after her earliest Wimbledon exit since 2019.
Jabeur conceded she had been haunted by painful memories of last year’s 6-4, 6-4 final defeat against Marketa Vondrousova when she returned to Centre Court on Saturday.
“I’m not going to lie to you. It was a bit of remembering last year. Especially not playing so good, not serving the way I wanted in the first set did bring a bit of sad memories,” she said.
“But yeah, I still love the Centre Court, still hope to come back and win on it again.”
Jabeur has been struggling with a nagging knee problem that will require an injection when she leaves Wimbledon.
“I need to take care of it. I think it’s going to be a week or week and a half off because, yeah, medically I need to give it a little bit of time,” she said.
“It is what it is. The knee, it’s always going to bother me and I’m always going to play with it.”
But she refused to blame the injury for her sluggish display.
“It’s the same old pain that I’ve been playing with for the past few matches. A couple of months ago I couldn’t play, now I’m moving much better. I’m really grateful for that,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say I lost because of my knee today. It wasn’t my day. Definitely she played really unbelievable.”
Svitolina’s reward for her victory in one hour and 20 minutes is a last 16 clash with China’s Wang Xinyu.
