Ons Jabeur and Tatjana Maria will briefly put their friendship to one side when they face each other on Centre Court in the Wimbledon semi-finals this afternoon.
World number two Jabeur fell a set behind but roared back against Marie Bouzkova in the quarter-finals to reach the last four while Maria, who has already knocked out Jelena Ostapenko and Maria Sakkari, battled past fellow German Jule Niemeier.
She has described Jabeur as “part of my family”, though the Tunisian has been trying to sow division in the Maria camp.
“Obviously it’s tough to play her and I was joking with Charlotte [Maria’s daughter], I was telling her, ‘are you going to support me or your mum?’” Jabeur said.
“I’m trying to turn all the kids to my side, using the family! They are really nice. I’m really happy for her that she’s getting what she deserves. I know she struggled a lot. It’s not easy coming back after having two babies.
“It’s going to be a great match between us, a lot of respect, for sure. Maybe not friends for two hours or I don’t know how long the match will go, but we will be friends again at the end.”
Jabeur vs Maria date and start time
The pair will take to Centre Court on Thursday, July 7, 2022.
It will be the first of the semi-finals to take place, with the players walking out at 1:30pm BST.
How to watch Jabeur vs Maria
TV channel: BBC will broadcast the match on BBC Two with coverage on the channel commencing at 12:30pm BST and potentially switching over to BBC One at 1.45pm BST.
Live stream: TV licence fee-payers can stream the tennis action over the next two weeks via the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app.
LIVE blog: Keep across all of the coverage with Standard Sport’s dedicated match blog.
Jabeur vs Maria head-to-head (h2h) results
This will be the fourth time the two have played each other.
Jabeur won in the qualifying rounds at the 2014 US Open and the 2018 Beijing Open against Maria, but the German came out on top in the main draw at the 2017 Linz Open.
Jabeur vs Maria prediction
For the first time in the tournament Jabeur lost a set in the quarter-finals, but her response was a ruthless one as she quickly got things back on track. The third seed has looked impressive throughout the grass-court season and many expected the deep Wimbledon run she has produced.
Maria meanwhile had never previously made it past the third round of a Grand Slam, and has needed three sets in four of her five matches up to this point. It would be a big shock if she were to book her place in the Wimbledon final.
