Ons Jabeur broke down in tears after losing the Wimbledon 2023 final against Czech Republic’s unseeded Marketa Vondrousova on Saturday.
Vondrousova is the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon women's singles title in the professional era.
It was a heartbreaking result for Jabeur, who remained as the runner-up at Wimbledon for the second successive year.
She was also consoled by Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, who was on the court to award the trophies to the finalists.
“I will try to speak because this is very tough. I think this is the most painful loss of my career. First I want to say congratulations to Marketa and her team for this amazing tournament,” Jabeur said through the tears.
“You are an amazing player and I know you had a lot of injuries so I am very happy for you. It is going to be a tough day today for me. I am not going to give up and I will come back stronger. It’s an amazing tournament for me, I want to thank my team for always believing in me.
“We are going to make it one day, I promise you. Thank you guys for coming, thank you for cheering for me. I really appreciate your support, it has been a tough journey but that is tennis. I promise I’ll come back one day and win this tournament.”
The Tunisian was looking to become the first Arab tennis player to secure a Grand Slam title as well as the first African woman to win one of the four majors.
The roof on Centre Court was shut because of the possibility of rain showers during the match.
Jabeur made a positive start after winning the opening two games of the final but Vondrousova, who used her slow slices and clever angles to good effect, settled down in the match soon after.
Jabeur took a 4-2 lead but dropped four successive games to lose the opening set.
Vondrousova raced to 1-0 and 40-0 but Jabeur fought back and won three games in a row.
However, Vondrousova equaled the set at 3-3 and broke her opponent’s serve at the crucial stage of 4-4.
The winner missed the first match point with a double fault but put away a volley to bag the title at the second time of asking.