Ons Jabeur appointed her husband Karim Kamoun as her fitness coach in 2017 (Image: GETTY)
has admitted she quit practice 15 minutes into her first session with her husband Karim Kamoun. The three-time Grand Slam finalist appointed the former Tunisian fencer as her fitness coach in 2017 after the couple had tied the knot two years previously.
They have worked together for the last eight years, with Kamoun helping the 30-year-old reach in 2022 and 2023 either side of an appearance in the US Open showpiece match.
But Jabeur is still waiting for her first Grand Slam title and has been knocked out before the quarter-finals in four of her last five appearances at Majors.
Jabeur discussed her professional relationship with her husband during the latest episode of the , which is hosted by John Isner, Sam Querrey, Jack Sock and Steve Johnson.
After being asked if she had ever thought about firing Kamoun, the star joked: “Maybe for a day, but he’s back the next day.”
And she explained: “It was funny when we started working together because obviously we were dating before and then we thought, ‘Maybe we try and work [together].’
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Karim Kamoun works as Ons Jabeur’s fitness coach, with the couple tying the knot in 2015 (Image: GETTY)
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“He became my fitness coach, and the first time he told me to go around, I was like, ‘Don’t tell me what to do, don’t give me…’ Then he was throwing the medicine ball, and he kind of [went] a bit far.
“He was like, ‘You don’t know how to throw, you don’t know how to catch it.’ I think the first session ended in 15 minutes.”
Jabeur rose to No. 2 in the world after reaching her first Wimbledon final but has since fallen to No. 33. She was knocked out of last month’s Australian Open in the third round after suffering a narrow defeat to Emma Navarro but will be eyeing up glory at the French Open in her next Grand Slam.
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And delving into her coaching arrangements further, she added: “You know how tennis players, they fly and how expensive it is to have everything around… And we were like, ‘Let’s try to be together and see how it goes.’ And I think we made the right choice.
“I always say the key to this is communication between both and since I started working with him I said, ‘If you don’t like anything you just have to tell me from the beginning. Just don’t let things add up.’
“We don’t want it to affect our personal relationship and our professional relationship. That is very tough at the beginning to manage but I think we have learnt a lot. We have fought a lot as well, but it’s nice to be at this stage for sure.”