A Class Act, Easily Ignored: Kudos to Ons Jabeur

Everybody knows Jelena. I think she always tells me the demons in her head comes out during the match, so I completely understand. . .Probably my box wasn't that easy [either], cheering for me. Maybe she said some bad words to them, but I think they can handle it. They're grown ups.” Ons Jabeur, to reporters after her opponent, Jelena Ostapenko, chirped at her team and offered a conspicuously dismissive handshake at the net after losing their match in Madrid.

Every so often, we get to witness a moment of grace that manages to transcend even our concept of sportsmanship, which in the end is an unwritten but fairly strict code of etiquette, or rules. On this occasion, Jabeur would have been well within her rights to call out or criticize Ostapenko for violating that code, but instead of doing that she offered the WTA’s wild child that rare gift: compassion.

In turning the other cheek, Jabeur also reminded everyone—most of all her peers—that actions and words fired in the heat of battle don’t necessarily demand a nuclear response.

This level of equanimity is not a common feature in pro tennis, nor an easy attitude to maintain in a sport driven by rivalry between individuals. Far more common are the tales or incidents of players getting all shirty with opponents or their retinues. Social media platforms light up regularly with video clips of illicit coaching (no longer a problem), brush-off handshakes offered without eye contact (more a feature than glitch), chowderhead parents and friends and behaving badly. We see dust-ups over all sorts of things, including line calls, double-bounces, contact between body and ball, time violations, bathroom breaks and more.

Elite players are not immune to such conflicts. Message boards still revive the video of Roger Federer telling Novak Djokovic’s family to “be quiet,” then peevishly kicking at the clay at the 2008 Monte Carlo Masters. Who can forget the incident at the Miami Open in 2006, when Maria Sharapova turned her back and ignored Tatiana Golovin as the injured French player lay writhing on the court after rolling an ankle? Daniil Medvedev earned his spurs at the US Open for sparring with the tough Gotham crowd. Anyone remember Juan Ignacio Chela spitting at Lleyton Hewitt—who himself has been in the center of some controversial episodes?

Instead of hardening her attitude, Jabeur’s struggles appear to have enhanced her empathy and compassion.

It’s easy to understand why poor sportsmanship, which often boils down to a lack of compassion for an opponent, goes viral and appears to have a longer half-life than nuclear waste. As that axiom by which newspaper editors have lived for ages goes, “Dog bites man is not a story. Man bites dog, now that’s a story.” In tennis, a sport both praised and sometimes ridiculed for its embrace of civility and sportsmanship, loutishness and trash talking still fall into the category of “Man Bites Dog.”

Plain old decency and honorable behavior is usually, but not always, taken for granted. It’s impossible to forget the way Naomi Osaka consoled 15-year old Coco Gauff at the 2019 US Open after allowing the rising star just three games in a blowout. Osaka had plenty of grounds for spiking the football after eliminating the game’s newest Next Great Thing. Instead, Osaka asked Gauff, “Do you want to do the [post-match] interview with me? These people [fans] are here for you.”

That gesture also transcended sportsmanship, venturing into the rare territory of unscripted acts of kindness and compassion.

It’s gratifying to know that the episode featuring Osaka and Gauff was widely viewed and praised. But acts of kindness, generosity, and displays of class don’t always generate ripples even when they are reported to the public. People are more likely to recall how Djokovic told a fan in Monte Carlo to, well, STFU than the times he reversed a call in an opponent’s favor, or went out of his way to console and encourage a beaten rival.

Numerous examples of virtuous behavior play out every week in tennis, but they largely go unreported. How many can recall the 2023 drama in Montpellier involving Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Ugo Humbert? Sprinting cross-court to reach an Alejandro Davidovich Fokina volley, Humbert tripped and went sprawling across the hard court. He cracked his head on the court, then crashed like a spun-out F1 race car into the signage at the edge of the court.

Davidovich Fokina bolted around the netpost before most others had even processed what had happened. He grabbed Humbert’s hand, signalling for help with his other hand. In great pain and shedding tears, Humbert grasped at Davidovich’s body, clung to him while help arrived and eventually escorted him off the court.

After Humbert retired, the winner told the crowd that the sight of Humbert in such distress almost made him cry as well. “It’s never easy to see a friend like this,” Davidovich said.

There are plenty of reminders of upright behavior in tennis if you care to look for them. Jabeur provided one of the more subtle ones after she beat Ostapenko in Madrid. Jabeur has had a difficult time since her second successive loss at Wimbledon in 2023. But instead of hardening her attitude, Jabeur’s struggles appear to have enhanced her empathy and compassion.

Predictably, her tolerance of Ostapenko’s shenanigans attracted little attention. After all, who wants to read a Man Bites Dog story?