"I did regret it after the first set": Jabeur admits return has come a little too soon after surgery, knee about 80%

Ons Jabeur is dealing with knee issues but she elected to return to tennis at Indian Wells ultimately regretting the decision and explaining it was too early.

Jabeur missed the Middle-Eastern swing due to some injury issues playing in Indian Wells for the first since the Australian Open. She won the match against Frech but admitted after the match that it was probably a bit too early explaining that she kind of regretted the decision after the first set:

“It’s a tough decision to come back, and I was the one that insisted that I come back in Indian Wells and Miami. It was probably too early to come back, but I just made it a new challenge for myself. I did regret it after the first set. But then I just told myself to accept what’s happening, to fight through it, and to just see how it goes. I’m sure it will get better and better every match.”

Commenting further after the match, Jabeur admitted that her knee is maybe at 80 % at most but she's ready for the challenge this week because she wants to compete:

“I’m an athlete and it’s tough to stay out of competition for a long time. I was missing being on the court. I just didn’t want to go behind in the ranking too much. I already missed two 500s and a 1000 and there are two 1000s coming. I was like, okay, I’m going to go and get prepared, even here and Miami, and see what’s gonna happen. I just twisted it a little bit. I made it like a challenge for myself to see if maybe physically I’m not ready, then I can challenge my mental health or really get my brain working for once.”