Wimbledon finalist bursts into tears and exits court after less than 30 minutes of play

Ons Jabeur was overcome with emotion just 26 minutes into her opening match at Wimbledon against Viktoriya Tomova. She was later forced to leave the court, with fans left wondering what the problem was.

The two-time finalist, who reached the final at SW19 in both 2022 and 2023, fended off nine game points during a grueling 10-minute battle at 2-2. However, she ultimately dropped the game, falling behind 3-2.

She returned to her bench, burying her face in a towel, visibly distressed. Medical staff were summoned for a timeout, during which they assessed her blood pressure and vital signs before escorting her away from the court.

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After approximately 14 minutes off-court, Jabeur came back to resume the opening set on the intimate Court 14.

But early in the second set, she made the difficult decision to withdraw from the match.

At the time of her retirement, Jabeur was down 7-6, 2-0. While the exact reason behind her emotional collapse remains uncertain, the intense humidity blanketing the All England Club may have played a role.

Monday's temperatures are expected to soar to 34C – a record high for the tournament's opening day.

Jabeur is determined to overcome her past disappointments at Wimbledon, having fallen in the final to both Elena Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova in successive years.

"It's a good and bad memory here. So I'm trying to really enjoy as much as I can," she told The National.

"Try to find that freedom when I'm playing and the joy when I'm playing. It's been a tough year, I would say.

"But yeah, it is what it is. I'm trying to repeat some positive words to myself that... I don't want to carry the disappointment that happened before and then hopefully I can move on with it."

She continued: "It's always, I think, mentally. Because if you're mentally ready and want to do everything, I think it's easier to overcome any physical struggle or anything. But yeah, being on and off didn't help much.

"The ability of believing in myself that I can come back like before, it's been a bit low and that really affected me.

"So yeah, it's just about a lot of believing in myself more than ever because coming back at a certain level, it's never easy. So I hope I can overcome that."