Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur ​auctions off Wimbledon racket to aid Covid-hit home country

Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur has auctioned off the racket used while on her record-breaking Wimbledon run, raising 35,000 Tunisian dinars ($12,533) to help her Covid-stricken home country.

Jabeur became the first Arab woman ever to make it Wimbledon's fourth round and quarter-final earlier this month.

Speaking in a mix of French and Arabic in an Instagram video posted on Monday, Jabeur said she was selling the racket that helped her on her trailblazing run because she "couldn't stay here and watch her country go through difficult situations".

In a Facebook post, Jabeur's friend and auction organiser Hajer Driss said the 35,000 dinars raised would be enough to buy a resuscitation unit for Covid patients.

Tunisia is currently one of the countries worst impacted by the pandemic, with the highest Covid death rate in all of Africa and the Arab world, according to a World Health Organization official. More than 100 deaths are being registered every day.

Jabeur, the world's 23rd seed, was born and raised in Tunisia. She left the country for Belgium and France in her late teens to facilitate the advanced training she needed, she said in an interview last year.

Jabeur has said in post-match press conferences ​that she hopes her success can serve as inspiration to other Tunisian and Arab women.