Ons Jabeur says she "definitely" wants to come back to tennis as a mother

The tennis world hasn't seen the last of Ons Jabeur on the WTA tour.

The Tunisian, who will welcome her first child—a son—next month, is revealing in a maternity-focused feature in the March issue of *Vogue Arabia* that she wants to "compete for a couple of more years.”

“I want to give myself the time to see how my body will react," Jabeur tells Christine van Deemter in an interview for Arab Mother's Day, which is celebrated on March 21. She says that preparing for parenthood has been a "a journey full of surprises" for her and husband Karim Kamoun, but that advice from former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters has helped her prepare not just to be a mother, but to be one on the WTA tour.

Read more: Ons Jabeur announces pregnancy: “The court will have to wait a little longer”

Jabeur had made no secret of her desire for motherhood. She famously opened up in a 2023 documentary about her life and career that losing that year's Wimbledon final to Marketa Vondrousova was crushing in more ways than one, as she hoped to get pregnant and take maternity leave had she won that title.

“So not only not winning Wimbledon, but the idea of having a baby vanished with the trophy," she said then.

“I always knew that tennis is important, but not the most important thing in life," she says now, just weeks ahead of welcoming "the best title I won in my life."

“I always say my game reflects my character,” she adds. “That’s who I am. Being a kid is fun, and I want our son to have that. I want him to be creative, to make jokes. Most important is that he's a good person and makes a change in the world.”

Jabeur also speaks about figurative motherhood in the feature, as she discusses wanting to influence the next generation through her new eponymous foundation and tennis academy in Dubai.

“My idea came from seeing how many people in Tunisia want to play sports but don’t have the space for it," she says. "I want to build parks to get kids moving and away from negativity. We’ve only just begun, but we have a lot of hope. This region deserves better, and we can do better in terms of creating champions."