"We gossip": Ons Jabeur names Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka as her closest friends on Tour
WTA
Ons Jabeur mentioned Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka as her closest friends on tour during a recent appearance on the Nothing Major podcast with John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Jack Sock. The Tunisian former world No. 2 also responded to comparisons between her drop shot and that of Carlos Alcaraz.
In a relaxed conversation with the former American players, Jabeur discussed both on- and off-court topics while joking around with her hosts. The world No. 33 is currently in Abu Dhabi, where she reached the second round after defeating Jelena Ostapenko in her opener.
During the lengthy interview, Querrey asked Jabeur which players she has the best relationship with outside the court.
"I mean, I’m friends with Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka mostly, you know," Jabeur said. "We don’t hang out a lot—I probably hang out more with Paula Badosa—but, you know, we talk about stuff, we get each other’s opinion about the tour and everything around it. We gossip," she added with a laugh.
Later in the conversation, Querrey praised Jabeur’s drop shot, suggesting that she doesn’t get enough credit for using it, unlike Carlos Alcaraz, even though the Tunisian has been on tour much longer. "Does it annoy you a little that people always talk about his drop shot? I feel like you came up with the drop shot first—you’ve been using it longer than Carlos, and he’s getting more credit when you should be getting it," Querrey remarked.
"He has a really good drop shot because he plays tactically with it—he doesn’t always know when he’s going to use it. But I like to say he got inspired by me or something, I don’t know," Jabeur replied with a smile.
"He’s got to give you a little bit of credit, in my opinion," Isner chimed in.
"And probably half of his Grand Slams too," Jabeur joked.
The Tunisian now awaits her round-of-16 match this Wednesday against Japan’s Sonobe Wakana, a qualifier and the reigning Australian Open junior champion.
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mandoist04-02-2025 - It sounds seriously absurd that in Davis Cup, (unlike Grand Slams such as the Aus Open), medical time outs off court with the medical staff are not allowed?? I mean, if this was an Aus Open match, and the same thing happened to Gurin then, he would have been able to go off court for official medical time out and make an informed decision whether to resume the match or retire. How come such conditions do not apply in Davis Cup?? I mean, there with Davis Cup, it is even more like a soccer match or basketball game in that teams are playing. And so as with those, it ought to be the case in tennis that if a player needs serious medical time out, then one of the other team mates ought to substitute and each team needs to have stand-ins or understudies in case substitution is needed which will be rare but as we can see here, this kind of circumstance fits. But even if the teams do not go down the road of subbing other team mates in, in case of a health issue like the one which played out here, at least, as in the Aus Open and other Grand Slams, there ought to be time-outs with the health professionals and at the conclusion of these time-outs, the particular decision that has been reached between them and the player needs to be taken on board by the umpire. PERIOD.
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