Former World No. 2 Ons Jabeur’s comeback to professional tennis will need to wait — for the happiest of reasons. The three-time Grand Slam finalist announced Monday that she and husband Karim Kamoun will welcome their first child, a son, in April.
Jabeur has been off the tour since announcing in July — after retiring from her first-round match at Wimbledon — that she was taking a break from the Hologic WTA Tour to “put [herself] first” after nearly two years of playing through injuries. Catching up with Egyptian tennis writer Reem Abulleil at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF last week, the 31-year-old Tunisian trailblazer reaffirmed that she wasn’t retiring, has enjoyed exploring off-court endeavors like started a namesake charitable foundation and a opening tennis academy in Dubai, and would return to competition when physically and mentally ready to do so.
But new developments now have her planning what she guarantees will be “the cutest comeback ever.”
The couple announced their impending new arrival with a sweet video posted to Instagram, where they hugged and held a tiny Wilson racquet — the brand Jabeur uses — and a Wimbledon-branded onesie, the tournament she’s been runner-up at twice.
“The court will have to wait a little longer, because soon … we’ll be welcoming our tiniest teammate. Baby boy joining the team in April,” she wrote in the video caption.
A three-time reigning Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award winner, Jabeur’s popularity amongst her peers was evident again with her big reveal. The “best news ever” racked up more than 50,000 likes in less than 30 minutes after it was posted.
The highest-ranking player from an Arab nation in WTA history, Jabeur has won five WTA singles titles in addition to being the beaten finalist at the 2022 US Open and Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023.