Tennis pros tend to have superstitions, there are wonderful stories out there. One of the most legendary happened in 2001. Back then, Goran Ivanisevic, who had lost three times before in the Wimbledon final, had fought his way round after round again, and the Croatian longed for nothing more than to triumph on the main pitch at the All England Club. In the mornings, he said later, he always woke up at 7.30 a.m., he always turned on the television, which showed the Teletubbies from 7.45 a.m. And because it also ran and ran for him in the tournament, Ivanisevic kept this ritual – and became the first Wimbledon winner who had taken an idiosyncratic children’s series to heart every day on the way to the title.
Tatjana Maria, who with two children would really have reason to adopt this apparently tried-and-tested procedure, preferred to trust her previous procedures on this Thursday morning. With one small exception: she briefly showed daughter Charlotte, 8, again the Center Court, on which her mother was later to play – then, as always, in these exciting two weeks, she went to childcare, where Cecilia, 15 months, was also put. Off to Aorangi Park, half an hour of training with Charles-Edouard, Maria’s husband and coach, as well as a hitting partner, and – she valued that a little – then three questions from Sky reporter Moritz Lang. Like always.
“I’m doing everything like the other days. I’ve prepared very well, I’ve done everything to be fit today,” said Maria with a smile and still had news to announce that matched her family history: “This morning I became an aunt,” she said. Her brother’s wife had given birth to the second child. “It was a nice waking up today,” said Maria. She also revealed that Charles-Edouard talked to her about tactics for a long time, “so that I have everything in my head again when I close my eyes before the match. I hope that I can implement everything.”
Around four hours later, at 3:20 p.m., she was standing on Center Court, the last rally had just passed, the spectators rose – and Maria hugged her professional colleague and good friend Ons Jabeur at the net. The German lost 2: 6, 6: 3, 1: 6 after 1:43 hours, but the applause that filled the entire stadium was also for her. She accomplished much of what she set out to do. She, currently the 103rd in the world rankings, had taken a toll on the second in the world rankings. So much so that after the match point and hug, Jabeur dragged her back onto the pitch and prompted viewers to cheer for Maria, who she recently called her “barbecue friend”. Haven’t seen a scene like this for a long time.
“I don’t know what to say, it’s a dream come true,” said Jabeur during the on-pitch interview. As the first player from Africa and the Arab world, she had just reached a Grand Slam final. Then she first explained her action with Maria. “I wanted to share the moment with her,” she said, admitting it was so hard “to chase her balls, she killed me.” Jabeur joked: “She has to make me a barbecue now after all the distances I had to walk on the pitch.” Paying homage to the most successful mother of this tournament, “I have no idea how she came back after two babies,” Jabeur said, but one thing she knew: “She’s a beast physically. I thought she was getting tired. But she wasn’t. “
Ons Jabeur and Tatjana Maria are good friends – they hug each other for a long time after the game.
(Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Jabeur herself can of course also be considered a great inspiration for completely different reasons, and she was happy to accept the role as a role model at that moment. “I’m a proud Tunisian woman standing here,” she said. She is happy if many people at home celebrate because of her and if as many children and young people as possible emulate her.
Maria played for the third time on Center Court. In 2018 she played on this special court against Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, in 2019 against defending champion Angelique Kerber; she lost both games. “Hopefully it will work out the third time,” she said before the match against Jabeur, which started evenly. Maria held her first service game, having gone over deuce five times. She showed bite and wit, she shone with beautiful volleys. Her serve was hard and precise. On the other hand: It was already clear that Jabeur was the more offensive player. She urged to crack Maria. She was the first to take the service game from her to make it 2-1. On the slice shots of Maria, who had maltreated her prominent opponents such as Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko with these undercut balls in the previous rounds, she countered with slice shots from time to time. From the 2:4 the contact broke off – 2:6.
Slice, change of rhythm – Maria was there in the second set
What characterized Maria so much in her run at Wimbledon, she now took up again. Perhaps when she switched sides she had closed her eyes and thought of Charles-Edouard’s words. She constantly pushed the ball towards Jabeur, giving her the chance to make mistakes. She fended off two breakballs to make it 1:2, and suddenly it was she who was leading 4:1 with a break. Their poisonous mixture of slice, rhythm changes and low-error game worked. Jabeur stumbled, struggled. She fended off a set ball at 2:5, 30:40, but Maria served the set as cool as she is to make it 6:3. She raised her fists and looked at her box.
Would she actually reach the final? That would be a sensation. Break to 2: 0 for Jabeur, 3: 0, Maria had eased up briefly, the game was already overturned. The level wasn’t outstanding, it wasn’t bad either, something in between. For the first time, two correct misses by Maria allowed Jabeur to pull away 4-0. She couldn’t take this advantage anymore.