Nights and days like this will forever be memorable for Africans most especially when they break protocols on the global stage. Well, Ons Jabeur will leave us dreaming.
The Tunisian defeated Tatjana Maria from Germany in the Wimbledon semifinals to become the first African woman, and first Arab or North African man or woman, to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era.
Jabeur, the No. 3 seed, prevailed 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the first women’s semifinal on Thursday.
Popularly called “The Minister of Happiness” back home, she will play 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep of Romania or No. 17 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in Saturday’s final.
“I’m a proud Tunisian woman standing here today,” Jabeur said. “I know in Tunisia they’re going crazy right now. I just try to inspire as much as I can.”
Tennis is one of the few sports Nigeria has not managed to break into the global top 10 rankings. Apart from Nduka Odizor, who went as far as the fourth round of the 1983 Wimbledon Championship, no Nigerian player ever has done anything of note in the grand slam of the sport that continues to captivate ardent fans in Nigeria whenever the big championships come up.
Icons like David Imonitie, Tony Mmoh, Yakubu Suleiman, Sadiq Abubakar, Godwin Kienka, Rolake Olagbegi, Jonathan Igbinovia, Veronica Oyibokia, and Esther Isibor (nee Onyekwelu), among others, once had the country dreaming of joining tennis big league, but they never managed to get to that stage.
We had At Oyinlomo Quadri who was 17 at the time back in 2021, she made us dream that Nigeria’s tennis dreams lie on her shoulders.
Quadri who idolizes Serena Williams was not just the country’s number one women’s tennis player back then, but she was also the only Nigerian in the top 100 juniors ranking.
Well, we think it’s high time the federation gets running and make us dream again as a giant of Africa who can break any barrier.
