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Ahead of Aussie Open, Jabeur and Ruud still keen to win a slam

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Ons Jabeur at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. Photo courtesy of MWTC." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/01/10/20230110-jab.jpg"/><figcaption>Ons Jabeur at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. <em>Photo courtesy of MWTC.</em></figcaption></figure></div><div> </div><p>Clinching a singles grand slam championship remains a steadfast dream for two-time slam finalists Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Casper Ruud of Norway.</p><p>WTA World No. 2 Jabeur, the 2022 Wimbledon and US Open runner-up, believes that the lessons from the previous year can boost her campaign for the current season.</p><p>“I always like to set the bar very high for myself and I’m always very happy to achieve that. So I’m definitely gonna use this experience of 2022 to be ready for 2023 with much higher goals. Yeah, definitely, I wanna be No. 1, I wanna win this grand slam, hopefully,” Jabeur told the media at the 14th Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/12/17/22/jabeur-edges-raducanu-to-retain-abu-dhabi-crown">Tennis: Ons Jabeur edges Emma Raducanu to retain Abu Dhabi exhibition crown</a></li></ul><p>In July, she was unable to stop the comeback attempt of Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 23, in the Wimbledon final, 6-3, 2-6, 2-6.</p><p>In New York City two months later, Jabeur fell to World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, 21, in the US Open final, 2-6, 6-7(5).</p><p>The 28-year-old Tunisian finished the 2022 season at a career-high ranking of World No. 2 with two titles from the WTA 1000 Madrid Open in Spain and WTA 500 Berlin Open in Germany. </p><p>Jabeur is expected to head to Melbourne as the Australian Open (AO) No. 2 seed, following her 3-6, 6-1, 3-6 semifinal loss at the Adelaide International 1 last week against 18-year-old Linda Noskova of Czech Republic, then the World No. 102 who is now at a career-high of No. 56.</p><p>Meanwhile, ATP World No. 3 and 2022 Roland Garros and US Open finalist Ruud is hopeful about his grand slam chances.</p><p>“Someone has to win the grand slams throughout the year so I’d like to think that why can’t it be me? Of course, it’s gonna be very, very difficult as we all know,” said the 24-year-old Norwegian.</p><p>“But I also believe that in the future, we will have maybe more grand slam champions than we’ve had in the last 15, or 16, 17 years or so. And more players will have a chance to win. And I hope I can be a part of that group who’s playing for the titles and fighting for the biggest titles in our sport.”</p><p>In the Roland Garros final in June, Ruud suffered a 3-6, 3-6, 0-6 loss to 22-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal of Spain, 36.</p><p>Three months later, Ruud battled another Spaniard in 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open final, where they fought for not only their first slam title but also the World No. 1 spot.</p><p>The Norwegian lost, 4-6, 6-2, 6-7(1), 3-6, and settled for the World No. 2 ranking, which is his career-best. </p><p>The son of former ATP World No. 39 Christian Ruud finished 2022 as the World No. 3 with three ATP 250 titles from Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Geneva and Gstaad in Switzerland.</p><p>His first event in 2023 was the inaugural United Cup team competition, where his 6-3, 6-2 victory over Thiago Monteiro was Norway’s only win against Brazil.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/29/22/tennis-ruud-takes-inspiration-from-federer-send-off">Tennis: World No. 2 Ruud takes inspiration from Federer send-off</a></li></ul><p>He then suffered a 4-6, 4-6 defeat at the hands of Matteo Berrettini in the Norway versus Italy tie.</p><p>In Auckland, New Zealand this week at the ATP 250 ASB Classic, the top-seeded Ruud received a bye in the first round and will face Laslo Djere of Serbia in the second round.</p><p>He is set to be the AO No. 2 seed next week due to the withdrawal of World No. 1 Alcaraz because of a leg injury.</p><p>The AO, now on its qualifying week, will hold main draw matches from January 16 to 29 in Melbourne Park.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong><br/> </div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JZoquH7pWu4?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Clinching a singles grand slam championship remains a steadfast dream for two-time slam finalists Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Casper Ruud of Norway.