Marketa Vondrousova became the lowest-ranked and first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon by upsetting favourite Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-4.
Perhaps the most unlikely winner in the tournament’s long history, Vondrousova entered this grass court season with a 2-10 record on the surface.
She’d made four previous trips to the All-England club and come away with one solitary win.
But the 2020 Olympics singles silver medalist made it three wins from three matches against Tunisia’s Jabeur in 2023 after defeating her in the second round of the Australian Open and third round in Miami.
This one was the sweetest of all as Vondrousova won her first slam final after finishing runner-up at the 2019 French Open.
“I think I’m gonna have some beer … it was an exhausting two weeks,” she said.
Vondrousova, whose run at Wimbledon has guaranteed her a return to the world’s top 20 next week, was an injured bystander at the tournament in 2022, reduced to watching a friend attempt to qualify for the main draw.
A second wrist surgery had ruled her out for six months although her absence from the tour at least allowed her the space and time to get married.
So unexpected was her run that she told her husband Stepan Simek to stay at home in Prague to look after their cat Frankie until the final, when a pet sitter was found to allow her partner to make the trip to Wimbledon.
The 24-year-old Czech had to battle hard to make the final. She defeated four seeds in succession just to make the semi-finals by seeing off Veronika Kudermetova, Donna Vekic, Marie Bouzkova and Jessica Pegula.
Against fourth-ranked Pegula of the United States, she was 1-4 down in the final set.
In Thursday’s semi-final, she swept past crowd favourite Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in two comfortable sets, before coming from a break down in both sets to beat Jabeur.
“For me, it’s really crazy this is happening. But I think anything can happen in tennis,” she said.
Vondrousova joined Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova as the only Czech women to win a Wimbledon title and just the ninth unseeded champion at a Grand Slam tournament.
Jabeur was hoping it would be third time lucky as she attempted to become the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.
But the 28-year-old was denied again after being defeated by Elena Rybakina in the final at the All England Club in 2022 and losing to world number one Iga Swiatek at the US Open later in the year.
“This is the most painful loss of my career,” she said.
Jabeur also had a tough run to Saturday’s championship match, beating two-time former winner Petra Kvitova in the last 16, third seed Rybakina in the quarter-final and then coming from a set down to knock out second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
By doing so she became the first woman to defeat three top-10 players at Wimbledon since Serena Williams in 2012.
But she became the seventh woman to lose all three of their first Grand Slam finals, although two of those — Chris Evert and Kim Clijsters — eventually made up for lost time.
Jabeur had form on her side for Saturday, with a tour-best 28 wins on grass since 2021 matching the run of former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova between 2004 and 2006.
Get to know unlikely Wimbledon winner
Five things to know about the Czech lefthander:
1. Childhood friends to sweethearts
Vondrousova married IT project manager Stepan Simek in Prague in July 2022. The couple have known each other since childhood and dated for seven years before their wedding.
“Marketa always said she was in love with me since she was 13, but I allegedly only noticed her when she was 15,” said Simek.
“We were at a training camp, we ran together and the suffering on the track brought us together.”
Simek is 1.94 metres tall — 22 centimetres taller than Marketa. “I don’t mind, except that my neck hurts when I want to kiss him or when I’m talking to him and have to look up,” she once said.
2. Name game
Vondrousova has kept her surname in tennis after her wedding. “I didn’t want to give it up, because it was my dad who led me to play tennis. And everyone knows me under this name,” she said.
But she is “Simkova” on all her private documents, which sometimes causes problems — a messenger was looking for Mrs Simkova at her tennis club and nobody was able to recall it was her.
3. Inking feeling
Vondrousova has tattoos all over her body. She has had her lucky number 13 tattooed, and after the Tokyo Olympics, where she won a silver medal, she added the five Olympic rings.
“For me, it’s art. I appreciate the people that do this,” she said after defeating Elina Svitolina in Thursday’s semi-final.
4. ‘Maky’ my day
Her nickname is “Maky”, a popular short name for Marketa. Coincidentally, July 13 — the day of her semi-final win over Elina Svitolina — is the name day for Marketa (Margaret) in the Czech Republic. Every day of the year is someone’s name day, on which the individual is wished “Happy Name Day”.
5. No doubles trouble
Vondrousova reached the third round of the women’s doubles at Wimbledon with compatriot and close friend Miriam Kolodziejova, but when Vondrousova reached the singles semi-final, Kolodziejova came up and said: “Don’t play, it would be too much for you.”
Vondrousova said: “Fortunately, we’re really good friends. She’s not upset. We understand and support each other, which is nice.”
– with AFP
