Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon Women's Singles. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Before Marketa Vondrousova's remarkable run to the Wimbledon title, her best run in the All England Club, reaching the second round. It was in 2021 when an 18-year-old wildcard girl beat her on court 12. Her name: Emma Raducanou.
Radukana remains the latest to beat the newly crowned champion Vondrousova at SW19, before the Brit clinches the title just a couple of months later at the US Open. The moment Vondrousova lost to Radukan, she realized that her opponent would be special.
“She was a wildcard here and played amazing,” Vondrousova said, reflecting on the meeting after winning Wimbledon on Saturday. “I thought, ‘It’s impossible that she won’t be at the top soon,’ and then she won the US Open. For me it was still my best result here – the second round. I said to myself before the tournament: “Just try, just try to win a couple of matches.” And so I won the whole tournament. It's crazy.”
24-year-old Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon on Saturday after beating Ons Jaber 6-4, 6-4. She is the most unlikely Grand Slam champion since the out-of-the-sky Radukan in New York, when she became the first ever qualifier to win a major title.
Vondrousova said that both of their triumphs send a message to the rest of the tour that anything is possible.
One match – two future champions of the Bolshoi helmet, Emma Raducanou in 2021, Marketa Vondrousova in 2023. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire
“I feel like everyone is playing such great tennis that it doesn’t matter if you are 70 or 20, anyone can beat anyone. Every match here was very hard, and I don't think it depends on whether it's top 10 or someone in the 90, it's very hard.”
Wondrousova jumps from 42nd in the world to a new career high of #10 on Monday. As one of eight Czech women in the top 50, she has always been a threat on tour, reaching the Roland Garros final in 2019.
But participation in Wimbledon was less likely. Her record on grass at tour level leading up to those two weeks was two wins to 10 losses. Last year, she visited London during the two-week Wimbledon as a “tourist” and went to the qualifying championships in Roehampton just to support a close friend.
At the time, she had just had surgery on her wrist, as Radukan last month, and spent long months on the sidelines. During this time, her sponsorship contract with Nike ended and the sportswear giant decided not to renew it. Was she motivated to prove them wrong?
“The contract ended last year and I didn’t play for six months,” said Vondrousova, who came to the post-match media interview wearing a Nike sweatshirt. “I was a bit sad when it ended but I said, 'We'll try to find something else, just show them I'll play well, I'll play well and we'll see what happens.' happening now”. But I also feel like maybe it's a good thing that brought me here.”Martina Navratilova, top female tennis player of Czech origin, watched Vondrousova win in Saturday's final Photo: AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
While Vondrousova's victory came in left field, she is part of a long line of Czech players who thrive at the top of tennis. Her Wimbledon victory came exactly 50 years after compatriot Jan Kodes' men's title in 1973, and Martina Navratilova remains the highest-scoring SW19 champion with nine singles titles. Jana Novotná was also a consecutive finalist until her victory in 1998.
Recently, Petra Kvitova won here in 2011 and 2014, and 2021 finalist Karolina Pliskova briefly topped the world rankings in 2017.
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The Czech Republic, a country of just 10 million people, has over the last 10 years has produced nine women's Grand Slam finalists. It consistently outperforms countries with huge budgets for developing young talent, including Grand Slam countries such as the UK and France.
Navratilova explains this by the fact that in small towns scattered around, there are practically free tennis courts. country and an abundance of top coaches. Cods agrees. “We have tennis courts everywhere in small villages,” he said on Saturday.
Vondrousova was born in Sokolov, a small town of 22,000, and started playing at a local club at the age of four. She made the two-hour trip to Prague's top CLTK club twice a week to train from the age of 12 under her “biggest fan”. her grandfather. “Then, when I was 15, I moved to Prague, we had rooms in the club. My mother was in another city, and that's it, we were alone, on our own.
From there she became No. 1 among juniors, inspired by the women who came before her.
< p>« I trained with Petra before the tournament and she played so well. The Czechs have a great history here at Wimbledon. I've seen Martina and Elena Sukova and Jan Kodes in my box, so it's crazy that I'm the champion here now.”
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