Marketa Vondrousova came to the All England Club a year ago unable to play tennis at all. She had a cast on her surgically repaired left wrist, so her visit was limited to sightseeing around London with her sister and cheering for a friend who was competing at Wimbledon.
This trip was a lot more memorable: She is leaving as a Grand Slam champion.
Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon on Saturday, coming back in each set for a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur in the final.
“I don’t really know what’s happening now. It’s an amazing feeling,” Vondrousova, a 24-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic, said during the trophy ceremony.
“After everything I’ve been through — I had a cast last year (at) this time — it’s just amazing that I can stand here and hold this. Tennis is crazy.”
After being sidelined from April to October, she finished last season ranked just 99th. She arrived at Wimbledon 42nd and was the first unseeded woman to even reach the final at the All England Club in 60 years — the last, 1963 runner-up Billie Jean King, was seated in the front row of the Royal Box on Saturday alongside Kate, the Princess of Wales.
Following the match, King greeted Vondrousova with a hug and told her: “First unseeded ever. I love it.”
Centre Court’s retractable roof was closed for the final, shielding everyone from the wind that topped 20 mph (30 kph) outside, and that perhaps allowed Vondrousova’s smooth lefty strokes to repeatedly find the intended mark. Her shots betrayed none of the sort of tension that Jabeur’s shots did.
Vondrousova lost in the final of the 2019 French Open as a teenager. On this afternoon, she trailed in each set but collected the last four games of the first, then the last three games of the second.
How did she plan to celebrate?
“I’m going to have some beer, maybe,” Vondrouova said, drawing chuckles from the fans. “It was really an exhausting two weeks….
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