Hammam Sousse (Tunisia) (AFP)

She trained in hotels, then with the boys, before becoming the first player in the Arab world of the Open era to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam: Ons Jabeur gave wings to Tunisian tennis in breaking records.

Eliminated Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the one that defines itself as "a 100% Tunisian product" can nevertheless be proud of its "formidable adventure", hailed by the Tunisian press, but also by the Tunisian president, who congratulated her by phone.

For Kaïs Saïed, Jabeur is "an example for women and young people", whose "each stroke of the racket defends the Tunisian flag".

The fruit of a long-term journey: the one who, at 25, aspires to "win a Grand Slam tournament" started tennis at the age of three in the small town of Hammam Sousse, near the seaside resort of Sousse .

After a stint in club, she joined the tennis promotion center installed within her school, and animated by the one who will become her trainer, Nabil Mlika.

The latter remembers "his dynamism and his application". Ons "stood out above all for her talent and her desire to win, underlines to AFP the man who followed her from 4 to 13 years old.

- "Have a coffee at Roland-Garros" -

From an early age, she clearly displayed her ambitions. Around 10 years old, "several times she said to her mom + One day I will make you drink coffee at Roland-Garros +", says Nabil Mlika. "I took it as a joke - but apparently she was so serious. She did it. It's magic."

His club had no facilities at the time: training took place on the tennis courts of neighboring hotels. Today, toddlers meet in the afternoon on the dozen or so, and the name Ons Jabeur makes their eyes shine.

At 12, the young prodigy joined the best athletes trained at the El Menzah sports high school in Tunis.

"We had an exceptional technical ease of gesture", underlines the ex-technical director of the Federation, Hichem Riani. "She was very lively, dynamic, friendly and sociable, she really liked humor."

Her former colleagues Mehdi Abid, 24, and Moez Bougatya, 26, remember a child who, having always dominated other girls, loved to train with boys.

"Once, she participated in a boys' tournament and won matches, which demoralized some players, annoyed to be beaten by a girl," added Mehdi, laughing.

In 2011, in the midst of the Tunisian revolution, 16-year-old Jabeur made himself known by winning the Roland-Garros junior tournament, his "best memory in tennis".

- "Inspiring the young generations"

Six years later, it was again on Parisian clay that she distinguished herself, becoming the first woman from an Arab country to qualify for the third round of a Grand Slam by dominating the Slovak Dominika Cibulková, then 7th in the world.

A record now beaten at the end of his Australian course: before his quarter-final lost Tuesday to the American Sofia Kenin (6-4, 6-4), only an Egyptian, Betsy Abbas, had reached in 1960 the quarters of final at the French Open. But it was before the Open era.

The trajectory of Ons Jabeur has projected tennis to the front page of the Tunisian media, a country where football reigns supreme.

If she left Tunisia at 16, it was there that she returned to prepare for Melbourne, with Tunisian trainer Issam Jalleli, and her husband and physical trainer Karim Kamoun, fencer, welcomes the president. of the Tunisian Tennis Federation Salma Mouelhi.

We hope to "inspire the young generations". Cafes in Tunis began to rebroadcast her matches during the day, and in clubs, she has already won her bet.

"We represent all of Africa, and personally, it inspires me a lot," says Elyes Marouani, a 17-year-old tennis player. "What she achieved pushes me to work more and taught me to never give up."

© 2020 AFP