"I had my eyes always on Ons Jabeur" - Mayar Sherif on how the Tunisian inspired her to keep playing tennis despite financial struggles

Mayar Sherif recently revealed that Ons Jabeur served as her inspiration to persevere in tennis despite financial challenges early in her career.

Sherif is the highest-ranked Egyptian player in the Open Era. She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 31 on the WTA rankings in June 2023.

Currently, Sherif and Ons Jabeur are the only African players in the top 100 on the WTA rankings, at No. 61 and No. 6, respectively.

In the recent episode of the podcast ‘Abtal’ hosted by Reem Abulleil, Ons Jabeur and Mayar Sherif were featured. The Egyptian spoke about how she faced financial challenges in the early stages of her career, taking private lessons in school to save up and return to tennis.

“When I graduated I saved some money from school, I did private lessons in school so that I can save after I come back, so I give myself the chance to maybe try again,” Sherif said.

She also spoke about how she was motivated by Ons Jabeur. Initially, Sharif wanted to pursue her postgraduate studies and move away from tennis. However, witnessing the Tunisian's climb on the WTA rankings made her reconsider.

“And looking at Ons, I remember so well and seeing her get to 150, 130 and breaking that, I was still in college, so in my first two years I was thinking, I'm just gonna take my masters afterwards I'm not gonna play tennis but then I saw her going and going and going and then my mind started changing and also I saw other players but I had my eyes always on Ons to be honest,” Sherif said.

Mayar Sherif has won one WTA singles title in her career, the 2022 Emilia-Romagna Open. In the final, she defeated Maria Sakkari in straight sets.

She has also secured a total of six WTA 125 singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. On the ITF Women's Circuit, the Egyptian has clinched nine singles titles and six doubles titles.

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Ons Jabeur's best performance at the Australian Open

2024 Australian Open - (Getty images)

Having competed in the Australian Open seven times, here is a look at Ons Jabeur's best performance at the tournament. The farthest the Tunisian has reached in Melbourne is the quarterfinals, achieved in 2020.

In the first round, she defeated Johanna Konta. The Tunisian then secured victories against Caroline Garcia, Caroline Wozniacki and Qiang Wang in the second, third and fourth rounds, respectively. Jabeur was eventually knocked out by Sofia Kenin in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-4.

In Jabeur's recent appearance at the 2024 Australian Open, she defeated Yuliia Starodubtsewa in the first round but was eliminated in the second round by 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva.