Wimbledon 2022: Tunisia's Ons Jabeur says family never applied for UK visa

Tunis, Tunisia: There were no visa issues for family members of Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur because they never applied, the Tunisian tennis star said Saturday, after Britain said it would investigate.

“I said they don’t have the visa. I didn’t say they applied and they (were) refused the visa,” Jabeur, 27, said after her loss to Russian-born Elena Rybakina , representing Kazakhstan.

Jabeur, the first African or Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the modern era, was earlier quoted by the BBC as saying her brother Hatem would “hopefully be there” to watch her.

“But unfortunately the other members of my family don’t have visas,” the report, dated Friday, quoted her as saying.

“It will be tough for them but they will be cheering for me back home.”

On its official Twitter feed, the British embassy in Tunis said it was “sorry to hear that your parents and sister aren’t able to be there to support you, and we will look into what happened.”

In her comments later Jabeur smiled and said the issue had gone “really bad.”

She clarified that her parents never applied for a visa because there wasn’t enough time.

“UK and Tunisia are good,” she laughed. “Good relationships.”

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