Check out my latest book, Tennis Players as Works of Art, now available on Amazon. Called “madly ambitious” and named one its 5 featured books of 2024 in the category of Art/Imagination/Creativity by Publisher’s Weekly Booklife, Tennis Players as Works of Art has also been named “One of the Best Books we Read in 2024” (Independent Book Review) and “Book of the Year” (Inside Tennis Magazine.)
Headline: Ons Jabeur Becomes the First Arab Woman to Break into the World’s Top Ten
Young Arab women in 22 countries practice Ons Jabeur drop shots of outrageous height and spin. It’s about having the right feel. It’s about having soft hands. Girls in Tunisia and Algeria practice tweeners and trick shots like the one in Colacat’s portrait. Girls in Iran and Iraq learn to dictate points instead of waiting to see what happens. A girl in Bahrain becomes proud of her body, her two strong arms. She starts lifting weights as girls in Egypt do planks in the sand and a girl in Syria tells her grandmother about Ons Jabeur. They watch a match together. They laugh, they shout, they cry. In one girl’s room in Somalia, the harm and hurt of social media turns soothing, spiritual. Ons on Instagram and Ons on twitter: big hugs and smiles with opponents after matches. Girls in Yemen and Jordan and Morocco think others might be friends, not enemies.
Artist Bio: This portrait of Ons Jabeur is by Cat Lee (Colacat). A self-taught artist, she produces a wide variety of popular art on tennis. You can check out her tennis art and products on her website. You can also follow her on Instagram or Twitter.
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Happy to announce that this blog has been named one of Feedspot’s top tennis blogs, websites & influencers of 2022.