"She gave us a lot of confidence to go after her" - Ons Jabeur believes Iga Swiatek's dominance makes tennis 'competitive'

Ons Jabeur believes Iga Swiatek gives all the players, including herself, the motivation to try and beat her, by dominating the sport in such a supreme fashion.

Swiatek dominated women's tennis in 2022, winning eight titles, including two Majors. She attained the World No. 1 ranking in March after Ashleigh Barty's retirement and has held firm to the position ever since.

The Tunisian reckons her Polish counterpart is similar to Barty in the way they motivate players to try and reach their level due to their high quality of tennis.

"With Iga's result, she gave us a lot of confidence to go after her and that's competitive, which is good because Ash was doing that, now Iga's doing the same thing," Jabeur said while speaking to the media in Adelaide.

The two-time Grand Slam finalist expects women's tennis to be just as competitive in 2023, highlighting how difficult it is to predict the outcome of any match involving top-10 players on both sides of the net.

"I just like the idea of not knowing who's going to win," she added. "I feel like it's been the same. When you play a top-10 player, it's always tough to beat. We're always trying to maintain at that level."

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"I was ready to win it this year" - Ons Jabeur on her Grand Slam ambitions

Ons Jabeur in action during her Wimbledon 2022 final.

Ons Jabeur came mightily close to breaking her Grand Slam duck in 2022, making the finals at Wimbledon and at the US Open. However, she was thwarted on both occasions, falling to Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek respectively.

But her performances saw a marked improvement from previous years, where she failed to progress beyond the fourth round in 16 of the 18 Majors she featured in.

While the Tunisian believes she was "ready to win" her maiden Grand Slam in 2022, she asserted that she is happy to have experienced playing in two finals.

"I was ready to win it this year. But it didn't happen and didn't happen for a reason. I'm glad that I got the experience of two finals in a Grand Slam," the Tunisian said.

The 28-year-old believes 2023 will be a "very special" year for her given she has put in a lot of work on her game and her physicality.

"We've worked really hard to improve a lot of things during the pre-season. We're more aware of my game. I'm more aware of my body. It's a great thing. I feel like this year (2023) is going to be very special for me," she said.

"I put in the hard work during practice, and I'm hitting the ball good. What has to be done is to play good matches and do whatever I did in practice and follow that," she continued.

Ons Jabeur stressed that she will leave no stone unturned in the upcoming season when it comes to winning her first Major.

"I'm doing everything possible to win a Grand Slam, and for me, I'm just going to go for it. This year, 2023, is about just being free and playing my game on the court," she stated.