For Marketa Vondrousova, winning Wimbledon was a family affair
It was already after sunset then Markta Vondrousova and her coach, Jan Hernychreturned to their rented house near Southfields Underground station, a mile from the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Hours earlier, Vondrousova had defeated Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 to become the first unseeded player in the Open era to win the women’s singles title at Wimbledon.
In the house, relatives, coaches and close friends were waiting for Vondrousova. Many of them were drunk on a combination of champagne and beer, including Hernych.
“I just went for the press and after two hours I came back and they were all drunk,” Vondrousova said in a telephone interview in late May. It is her fondest memory of the Wimbledon victory and the one she thinks about most often as she begins her title defense on Centre Court on Tuesday.
“I always think about my family and the celebration with my box,” said Vondrousova, who marked the occasion by adding a tattoo of the numbers 150723, the date of the final, to a body already covered in tattoo art. “That was the most important thing I wanted to do since I played in the final.”
Vondrousova’s career had a series of spirals. The Czech, who turned 25 last week, was the top-ranked junior in the world and won her first career title in Biel, Switzerland, when she was 17. She also reached the final of the 2019 French Open, losing to Ashleigh Barty. 6-1, 6-3, and captured a silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Vondrousova is also injured. She has had two wrist surgeries that sidelined her for more than six months, shortly after her 2019 French Open run.
Vondrousova, who was ranked No. 42 entering Wimbledon last year, called her run for the title “crazy,” partly because when she went into it she had won just one match in four previous attempts there. The deciding match was a comeback win over Jessica Pegula, who led their quarterfinal match 4–1 in the third set before Vondrousova won five straight games.
“She can play on any surface,” Henrych said. “She is very aggressive, but she has variety and can hit a lot of shots that other players cannot. She has an incredible touch and a very good reaction time.”
Weeks before Vondrousova won Wimbledon, her good friend Karolina Muchova reached the French Open final, before losing to Iga Swiatek in three sets. The loss left Vondrousova in tears. Vondrousova, an admitted sentimentalist, also felt sad for Jabeur after beating her at Wimbledon.
“It was actually really hard to see Us cry because I knew how much she wanted it,” said Vondrousova, who is now ranked No. 6. “I felt the same in Paris and then in Tokyo, so I know the feeling. But that’s tennis.”
A lot has happened to Vondrousova in the past 12 months. At the start of this season, she battled a mystery virus that left her feeling like her body was “falling apart,” she said. In March, her grandfather died, forcing her to withdraw from the Miami Open and return to Prague. Her marriage to Stepan Simek, whom she wed in 2022, recently dissolved. Vondrousova said the setback has strengthened her in some ways.
“Even when you’re doing well, sometimes you can feel it on the court,” said Vondrousova, who retired midway through the match with a right hip injury during a tournament in Berlin on June 20. “But tennis can also help you get better and stronger.”
It was her loss to Barty at the French Open that taught Vondrousova to enjoy the moment instead of worrying about the outcome. Last year she was determined to do that at Wimbledon. But will she be able to follow her own advice again this year?
“This year she will of course feel more pressure as the defending champion,” Henrych said. “Last year she was relaxed because she didn’t expect much.”
Vondrousova said it would be stressful to return to Centre Court.
“I can tell myself to be calm and that you won so you have nothing to prove,” she said. “I just want to enjoy it, and we’ll see what happens.”
