Ons Jabeur reveals hilarious strategy for winning ugly at WTA Finals that “can bother a lot of players”

Ons Jabeur is famous for the variety in her shots, and for having an excellent touch and feel for the ball that usually produces a beautiful, flowing game. But in Cancun, the No. 6 seed is leaning into a different strategy altogether in search of victory.

The Tunisian said she had to “win ugly” against Marketa Vondrousova, after taking down the No. 7 seed 6-4, 6-3 amid windy conditions to improve to 1-1 in Chetumal Group.

“The plan was honestly to put pressure on Marketa and try to hit as hard as possible,” Jabeur told Tennis Channel’s Steve Weissman and CoCo Vandeweghe on Wednesday. “And then if that doesn’t work, the plan B was I’m going to slice every shot and try to hit some drop shots, some… I call them 'shitty' balls, because it can bother a lot of players!

“I’m trying to win ugly—maybe it’s a good thing, sometimes, to learn to play that way.”

And apparently, part of that strategy even involved taking advantage of Cancun’s infamous court conditions to try to gain any edge against her opponent:

“At the end of the day, I tried to remember that it’s (the same) for both of us,” she said. “And I tried to remember which spots are the worst on the court, so I tried to hit there the most. But usually it doesn’t work that way!”

Though she was beaming during her conversation with Weissman and Vandeweghe, Tunisia’s Minister of Happiness admitted that she struggled with her emotions during and after her round robin match. Through tears in an on-court interview, Jabeur pledged to donate her WTA Finals prize money for humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

But the smile was back on her face when speaking about one of her favorite topics: Jabeur is a huge perfume enthusiast, and she packed several of her favorite scents for her trip to Cancun.

“I have like eight, or seven or nine right now? I have no idea. I think I put on Gucci today. It’s Flora,” she added, as she sniffed her jacket. “No, you can’t smell it right now. It’s all sweat.

“But yeah, I’m crazy about perfume. Gucci was a good scent today.”

Will the scent of Gucci Flora fuel her to victory against Iga Swiatek (2-0), Jabeur’s next opponent on the last day of Chetumal Group play? All four players—including Coco Gauff (1-1) and Vondrousova (0-2)  are alive in the group, with both semifinal spots up for grabs when players meet on Friday.