In sabbatical, Jabeur finds purpose through family, charity and adventure

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- She’s sitting in the players’ lounge, just a short drop volley from the two adjacent practice courts at the WTA Finals.

The critical question in this one-on-one interview has been raised: When will she return from her now-four-month hiatus? And through the sound of grunts and the thumping of balls, Ons Jabeur cracked a coy smile.

“I don’t have the right time right now,” she said Nov. 4. “But when I’m ready I want to come back for sure.”

Six days later, the reason behind that Mona Lisa smile became clear. Jabeur and her husband, Karim Kamoun, are expecting a son next April, she announced in an Instagram post Monday.

“Took a little break to reset and recharge,” Jabeur wrote. “Turns out, we’ve been planning the cutest comeback ever. Soon… we’ll be welcoming our tiniest teammate.”

“The court will have to wait a little longer," the 31-year-old noted.

Jabeur stepped away from tennis this summer after retiring in the first round at Wimbledon against Viktoriya Tomova. She was 15-15 for the year and struggled with a number of injuries.

How’s the break going?

“Very good,” she acknowledged. “I’m enjoying it stress-free. It’s nice to spend time with my family and discover myself outside the tennis courts. When you’re playing, you don’t have the time to do a lot of things. If you’re on vacation, you’re stressed that you need to go back and train.”

She and Kamoun enjoyed vacations in Türkiye and the “unbelievable” beaches in her native Tunisia. And she finally achieved this bucket-list item:

“I always wanted to get a motorcycle license, so I did it,” Jabeur said. “I’m not that kind of crazy driver -- I want to be safe. I want to learn the right way. I’ve got a helmet, all the gear.

“Really, I just want to look cool on a motorcycle.”

But there’s a lot more substance to Jabeur’s sabbatical. Back in September, she launched her foundation, the Ons Jabeur Foundation.

“The goal is to help give kids from Tunisia a chance to enjoy life, the chance to step away from the violence and the drugs, help them to live their childhood that they were supposed to,” Jabeur said. “I want to help the hospitals and the schools … it’s a big project but still really small at the moment. Hopefully, future projects (are) coming.”

Her current focus is a new tennis academy scheduled to open in Dubai by the end of the year. She’ll be there for the next few months, making sure operations are smooth.

“I want to see more Middle East players on the Tour, so Dubai was the right place to open,” she said. “Being a role model, all I want is the players to worry about practicing and hitting the ball hard, having the right coach.

“I want to offer these things so that their minds can be easy.”

A former World No. 2, Jabeur is famously the first Arab and African to achieve so many firsts in professional tennis. She reached 3-of-5 Grand Slam finals in a remarkable run from 2022-23. But as the 2025 season progressed, Jabeur knew a break was needed.

“Mentally I was not feeling well at all,” she said. “And my body was screaming for help. Injured my calf in Miami, my knee, my shoulder … being sick for a long time. I was not enjoying playing to be honest with you.

“So I felt I should take a break, enjoy life, come back when I’m ready.”

In Riyadh, Jabeur said all of her injuries have healed sufficiently, and that she hasn’t picked up a racquet and played a single point in more than four months.

“I’m not the kind of person that goes crazy if I don’t hit a ball,” she said. “The good thing is if I hit now, you would think I never stopped. But I’m taking my time. I’ll be in Dubai as long as it takes, maybe seeing the kids practice will give me back the motivation to come back.”

Jabeur is the most recent player to leave the game to become a mother, following Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina and Belinda Bencic, among others. Jabeur would do well to emulate Bencic’s return path.

After giving birth to daughter Bella in April 2024, Bencic returned to the court six months later, playing two ITF W75s and a WTA 125 in December. When she returned to the WTA Tour as 2025 began, she was ranked No. 487. After completing her season a few weeks ago in Hong Kong, Bencic rose all the way to No. 11.

“Everyone is different,” Jabeur said. “It depends how you recover. I don’t know the experience of giving birth, how it will be. But for me, I will see.

“If mentally I am ready to come back, anything can happen.”

Click here to read article