Stéphane Gurov : Ons is in a state of extreme serenity. I think that since the start of the tournament she has been on her little cloud. The confidence accumulated with the things that have happened in the last two, three weeks with the victory in Berlin (turf tournament) as a catalyst is not foreign to it. I think that today the key words for her are “confidence, serenity and determination”. She has big things to prove today.
Ons Jabeur is in a state of extreme serenity. Stéphane Gurov, son manager.
TV5Monde: Is his favorite status once morest Tatjina Maria something difficult to manage?
Stéphane Gurov : I think Ons is extremely seasoned today. I don’t think she can fall into the trap of overconfidence. I think she prepared very carefully for her match, I think the work of « scouting » (work which consists of observing the game of his opponent) upstream has been done. And I think that at no time will she think of notions, of categories which are completely artificial for her today. So no, I don’t think it’s going to play out, she’s going to take this match like a real derby.
I think she adjusted her preparation, her approaches to Grand Slam tournaments.
Stéphane Gurov, son manager.
TV5Monde : Was the first-round elimination of Roland Garos a sort of life-saving warning? Has Ons Jabeur changed anything in the way it trains?
Stéphane Gurov : Yes I think that indeed it was a strong warning this defeat. This defeat was very badly experienced. We had just come back from two finals, one won in Madrid (WTA 1000 tournament, one of the most important of the season), one lost in Rome. I think she adjusted her preparation, her approaches to Grand Slam tournaments. And indeed this match lost once morest the Polish (Magda Linette) at Roland Garros was a warning that she integrated well into her preparation.
She’s a global athlete. She is an athlete who is the emblem of a continent, who is the emblem of a large region.
Stéphane Gurov, son manager.
TV5Monde: Has Ons Jabeur received a call from the Tunisian President, or other messages of support from Tunisia?
Stéphane Gurov : I think she gets calls all the time from all over her country. But the interest in her goes far beyond her country today. She’s a global athlete. She is an athlete who is the emblem of a continent, who is the emblem of a large region, who is the champion of the Arab world. So there is a transcendence of all categories and geographical territories. And I think that this momentum around her will actually make a lot of people interested in her.
What is once once more the specificity of Ons is that today it is focused solely on its semi-final. Everything that happens outside is managed by his team of course. Here, today the place is on the ground and the tributes and the recognitions will come in a second time. But that’s not essential right now.
