Relatable Ons Jabeur is the pride of Tunisia and has turned adoring Wimbledon crowd into believers

Ons Jabeur thanked Centre Court for the love they gave. In truth, the audience was helpless before a beautiful soul who would have us believe anything is possible.

For the third time this fortnight Jabeur found herself a set down to a fierce hitter and once again she prevailed. Aryna Sabalenka, a winner in Australia and a semi-finalist in the last four grand slams, presented a heightened challenge after comeback victories against 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and last year’s Wimbledon victor Elena Rybakina.

Jabeur looked tense, hemmed in by the moment. Winning this tournament seems to mean much more to her, as it often does to players who come from the margins, treading a path scarcely plotted before. Jabeur plays not only for herself but Tunisia, for Africa, for the Arab diaspora. That’s quite the tribe to have at your back, or on it depending on outcomes.

Jabeur floats about the court, feathering all manner of delicate strokes. Sabalenka by contrast hits hard and fast, a machine-like athlete who moves almost entirely in straight lines, save for the well-chosen drop shot. She also moves very quickly, making the court smaller for her than it is for Jabeur.

After losing a tight first set on a tie-break, Jabeur suffered the first break of serve of the match in the fifth game of the second set. Sabalenka led 4-2 and had a point for 5-3 yet somehow lost four in a row as Jabeur wrestled the initiative to take the match to a deciding set.

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The level of investment in Jabeur from the crowd was immense, as if they knew she needed the boost. “C’mon” they yelled when Jabeur engineered break-point in the eighth game. They were out of their seats a point later with Jabeur stood at the back of the court fist clenched after drawing the error that brought parity.

Sabalenka didn’t lose points, Jabeur won them, seemingly with a racket in each hand. With the match level, Jabeur appeared coated in iron. Everything Sabalenka threw at her came back with flames attached.

Had Sabalenka won she would have taken over the No 1 ranking from Iga Swiatek and would have started the final as favourite.

Perhaps the enormity of what might be began to crowd her thoughts. Suddenly she was 5-2 down in the third, a match that she had controlled slipping away alarmingly. Even then she saved two match points on serve and smoked the line with a winner to stay in the contest.

It proved a short reprieve. Jabeur had three match-points on serve and aced it with the third, claiming ten of the closing 12 games en route to a second successive Wimbledon final.

A year ago she was overpowered by Rybakina. Twelve months down the line she is far more robust and will be the choice of most to win her first grand slam against Czech qualifier Marketa Vondrousova.

As well as the crowd, Jabeur thanked her spirit guide, French psychologist Melanie Maillard, who was looking on from the players’ gallery.

“I might be writing a book about it (working with a mental coach),” she said. “I’m proud of myself. The old me would have lost the match today and be back home already. I keep digging deep and finding the strength. I’m learning to transform bad energy into good. Hopefully I can win this tournament.”

The feeling is mutual on Centre Court. Few events in elite sport create the kind of intimacy between observers and participants as Wimbledon. The players feed off the energy in the seats and the crowd off the emotion of the players.

Jabeur does not fit the template of the Eastern European Amazon. She is the girl next door, a more relatable figure, whose apparent vulnerability becomes a strength when the crowd plugs in.

Though Jabeur has lost to Vondrousova twice this year, her opponent has yet to experience Centre court on Wimbledon final day, where she will be facing 14,979 on the other side of the net as well as the pride of Tunisia.

“Thanks to the crowd that kept me in the match,” Jabeur said. “It was difficult accepting her serve, her shots. Thanks for cheering for me and believing in me.”