A year ago, Marketa Vondrousova was in London as a tourist. Now she is Wimbledon champion because the favorite Ons Jabeur fails the nerves in the tennis classic.
Marketa Vondrousova couldn’t believe it all. “It’s crazy,” she said over and over again. Here she was, the new Queen of Wimbledon, in the hallowed rooms of the All England Club, and a real Royal Highness conversing with her.
Princess Kate seemed very pleasantly interested, wished her all the best – her interlocutor seemed frozen.
The 24-year-old Czech woman clutched the silver Venus Rosewater Dish, which she had received from the Princess of Wales just half an hour earlier, as if she were worried someone might snatch it from her. “Crazy” is all that, she repeated – and yes, it was crazy too.
Vondrousova after Wimbledon triumph: “It seemed impossible to win”
A year ago, Vondrousova was a tourist at Wimbledon to support her best friend Miriam Kolodziejova, who wanted to play her way into the main draw through qualifying. She herself wore her hitting hand in a splint. Coming to London SW19 this time she thought: “It seems impossible that I could win.”
Vondrousova was not intended to win Wimbledon, not least with the audience, for whom Ons Jabeur had been the big favorite and also the favorite of the hearts after her defeat in the final last year.
But then far too much went wrong for the 28-year-old Tunisian, who lost the final rather than her opponent winning it. 4: 6, 4: 6 in just 80 minutes – “that is”, the number six in the world confessed in tears on the pitch, “the most painful defeat of my career”.
Despite all the disappointment, Jabeur had the size to emphasize that she was “happy” for Vondrousova because she had been struggling with injuries for so long. In fact, after the final of the French Open 2019, which she lost to Ash Barty from Australia, and also after winning Olympic silver in Tokyo in 2021, the Czech had permanent problems with her left wrist, she had to have two surgeries, most recently last year Summer.
After Wimbledon triumph: Does Vondrousova’s coach also get a tattoo?
At Wimbledon, Vondrousova was first noticed for her many idiosyncratic tattoos. Only her semi-final victory against the popular Elina Switolina from Ukraine suddenly brought her into focus.
After reaching the final, husband Stepan Simek was also allowed to come, but only after cat Frankie was found to be cared for. Now both of them could celebrate right into their first wedding anniversary on Sunday.
There was a lot to celebrate besides the wedding anniversary, after all, Vondrousova is the first unseeded woman to win the Wimbledon final. In addition, the Czech, who fell to 143rd place in the world rankings last year and was last ranked 42nd, will be better than ever in tenth place from Monday.
Of course, Vondrousova already had very concrete plans on how to celebrate her triumph appropriately. “I’ll have a beer first,” she said with a grin. And on Sunday? She and her trainer Jan Mertl wanted to get tattoos. “I pick one, I hope he doesn’t back down.”