Ons Jabeur, a two-time finalist, retires from Wimbledon 2025 opener
by Alex Butler · UPIJune 30 (UPI) -- Tunisian Ons Jabeur, a finalist at Wimbledon for two of the past three years, retired during the second set of her first match at the 2025 edition of the grass-court Grand Slam on Monday in London.
The No. 59 player in the WTA singles rankings, who dealt with leg issues earlier this season, cried into her towel during a medical timeout before her exit in the first round.
"I wasn't expecting not to feel good," Jabeur said in a statement. "I've been practicing pretty well the last few days, but I guess these things happen. I'm really sad. It doesn't really help me with my confidence and what I keep pushing myself to do, even though it was a very tough season for me.
"So I hope I'm going to feel better and we'll see what's going to happen."
Jabeur was trailing No. 111 Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria 7-6 (5), 2-0 before her exit. She totaled 21 winners, but also logged 41 unforced errors. Tomova had 13 winners and 23 unforced errors. She also broke Jabeur's serve four times.
Tomova will face No. 51 Sonay Kartal of Great Britain in the second round. Kartal advanced with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win over No. 21 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia on Monday at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club.
Jabeur lost to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the third round of Wimbledon 2024. She was a finalist in 2023 and 2022, when she suffered respective losses Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.