Markéta Vondroušová collapsed onto the court of the All England Club as soon as she beat Ons Jabeur in the Wimbledon final Saturday. It was a moment of pure disbelief for the unseeded 24-year-old from Czechia after she took down the No. 6 Tunisian.
Vondroušová, who watched Wimbledon as a spectator a year ago, rallied to win both sets in the 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jabeur. She is the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon and the third Czech woman.
Everything started out well for the sixth-seeded Jabeur, who jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first. But 17 unforced errors by the Tunisian allowed Vondroušová to overcome the deficit and take the one-set lead.
Momentum appeared to shifted dramatically in Jabeur’s favor during the second game of the second set when she hit two sensational shots to get to 40-30 — a backhand winner followed by a forehand winner. Jabeur took a 3-1 lead soon after but, as Vondroušová did in the first set, she re-took control of the match.
Vondroušová won back-to-back games to draw even with Jabeur, then another to go up 5-4 before one final game for the title. Finally, she cruised almost perfectly toward victory in the final game to become the first Czech women’s singles Wimbledon winner since Petra Kvitová in 2014.
“I don’t know what is happening, it is an amazing feeling,” Vondroušová said after the match. “After everything I have been through it is amazing I can stand here and hold this. Tennis is crazy. The comebacks aren’t easy, you don’t know what to expect, I was hoping I could get back to this level and now this is happening.”
As for Jabeur, the 28-year-old looked defeated at times throughout the match with too many unforced errors to win her first Grand Slam title. She lost the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals in 2022 and most recently lost in the quarterfinals at the 2023 French Open. Jabeur began to exorcise those demons throughout this tournament after beating three top-10 opponents on her path to the final, which included a quarterfinal win over Elena Rybakina, who beat Jabeur at Wimbledon a year ago.
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But it wasn’t enough, and Jabeur didn’t hide her sadness after the loss. She also didn’t shy away from hope, either.
“I think this is the most painful loss of my career,” Jabeur said. “I promise I’ll come back one day and win this tournament.”
Vondroušová had a lot of positive experiences against Jabeur before this match. She had already beat Jabeur twice this year: in the third round at Indian Wells in two sets and in the second round of the Australian Open in three sets.
The win was still a shock for a player who hadn’t advanced past the fourth round of a Grand Slam since 2019, when she lost to Ashleigh Barty at the French Open at the age of 19.
What’s next for Vondroušová? A new tattoo. She told reporters after the match that her coach said he’d get a tattoo with her when she won a Grand Slam title. And now, Vondroušová has.
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