CARY, N.C. — Tennis player Ons Jabeur will become a minority owner of the N.C. Courage, the women’s soccer club announced Friday.

Jabeur will be the second female tennis player to take a minority stake in the 6-year-old National Women's Soccer League team, after Naomi Osaka in 2021, the Courage said in a statement.

The Tunisian-born Jabeur, who turns 29 on Monday, is ranked No. 5 and is the first North African and first Arab woman to compete in a Grand Slam final. She came in second to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic at Wimbledon in July.

Jabeur says she wants to encourage women’s participation in sports.

“Soccer and female empowerment are my main passions outside of tennis,” she said in the statement. “When Naomi took an equity stake in the Courage, I asked her if she would give me a starting position as a striker, but she said no … so I did the next best thing and become an owner.”

The Courage, based in Cary, are 2018 and 2019 NWSL champions and won the Challenge Cup in 2022.