Paula Badosa picking herself back up off the deck again despite being told her playing days were numbered tempered close friend Ons Jabeur’s expectations.
Badosa’s frustration at how long it took to return to an acceptable level, by her own standards, was a lesson in patience and at times blind faith, one which Jabeur was mindful of as she mounted her own comeback this season in Australia.
Jabeur, a major finalist at Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023 and the US Open in 2022, had drawn a line under a difficult 2024 following a defeat to Naomi Osaka in Toronto in August.
No sooner had she returned from a debilitating knee injury than a shoulder injury soon became too much to bear – physically and emotionally.
“When I first came back to practise, it was a bit tough for me. It was the first time that I took a long break like that and if I take a break, I do take a break, I don't do anything,” Jabeur told ausopen.com in Brisbane.
“It was like a real break, so for me I struggle a little bit with coming back. Sometimes you block just one part of your body that you weren't supposed to block. It was so weird getting other injuries, but thankfully I got stronger and stronger and had a very patient team, a very understanding team.
“It was also nice talking to Paula because I know she went through this, and I know the struggle that she had. She's such a good example, because she's the [WTA] Comeback Player of the Year. Deep inside I know this isn't going to be easy, and I need to be patient and to find my level.
“I think the most important thing is to remember that I do have a level that I kind of maintained for a lot of years, and that didn't happen by chance.”
Jabeur and Badosa combined in doubles in Brisbane where they won a match together, a welcome boost for their competitive court time ahead of the Australian Open.
There were flashes of that level that took the Tunisian to world No.2 as she made a run to the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 event. An emboldened upset of world No.11 Danielle Collins in Adelaide a week later was a further sign she was on the right track.
Jabeur meets eighth seed Emma Navarro on Saturday for the chance to reach the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the first time since her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2020.
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Her good friend Badosa has already sealed her place in the last 16, the first time in her career she has reached that stage at three successive majors.
“Not 100 per cent satisfied with the level that I want to be in … the level that will allow me to maybe go back to top 10 or allow me to compete with amazing players like Coco [Gauff], Iga [Swiatek], Aryna [Sabalenka], [Elena] Rybakina, you know,” she said following a straight-sets second-round win over Camila Osorio.
“I think with them you need to have a certain level, but it's getting there. I don't want to be greedy just after coming back from an injury. Sometimes I get angry because I feel like I'm getting back there, but every time something happens.”
Time away granted the 30-year-old more time with her husband Karim Kamoun and family, and a precious opportunity to dedicate more of herself to charity work.
It was a welcome reset for the mind, a chance to switch off even for a brief stint from the sport that had become so entwined with her existence.
While all Grand Slam final defeats hurt, it was her Wimbledon 2023 loss to Marketa Vondrousova that was particularly painful and lingered longest.
Jabeur was keen to start a family had she claimed that match, but instead those dreams were put on hold.
Was this the moment her resolve took the biggest hit?
“That's a tricky question,” she grinned.
“I do think it got lost slowly maybe after the Wimbledon final, I've gotta say, 2023. It was there, but not there. It was up and down, it was weird and then it just completely left, I feel like.
“I lost that hunger and motivation, and that's one of the reasons I stopped because I felt like I am on court without wanting to be there, without being hungry to play and motivated to play.
“But that hunger is definitely back, and I want to search for it more to make myself kind of suffer more on the court and get that last ball whenever I can get it.”