Markéta Vondrouová Wins Her First Grand Slam Title of 2023 by Defeating Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon
Markéta Vondrouová Wins Her First Grand Slam Title of 2023 by Defeating Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon
After defeating Ons Jabeur in Saturday’s Wimbledon final, Markéta Vondrouová collapsed into the court at the All England Club. After defeating Tunisia’s No. 6 seed, the unseeded Czech 24-year-old was in shock.
Having only attended Wimbledon as a spectator a year prior, Vondrouová defeated Jabeur 6-4, 6-4. She is the third Czech woman to win Wimbledon, and the first to do so without being seeded.
Jabeur had a great first quarter, scoring four runs to take a 6-2 advantage. However, Vondrouová was able to fight back from a set down with to seventeen unforced errors by the Tunisian.
When Jabeur smacked a backhand winner and a forehand winner in the second game of the second set, the momentum suddenly seemed to swing in her favor. Soon after, Jabeur gained a 3-1 lead, but Vondrouová, as she had done in the first set, rallied to regain the upper hand.
After being tied 4-4 with Jabeur, Vondrouová won the next two games in a row to take a 5-4 lead and ultimately the championship in the deciding match. Finally, in the final game, she coasted almost perfectly into victory to become the first Czech woman since Petra Kvitová in 2014 to win Wimbledon in the singles competition.
After the game, Vondrouová remarked, “I don’t know what’s happening, it is an amazing feeling.” It’s incredible that I’m able to stand here and hold this after everything I’ve been through.
Extremely wacky behavior is common in tennis. It’s not easy to make a comeback; you never know what to anticipate. However, I had hoped to return to this level, and it seems that my wish has come true.
Jabeur, however, will not be the bride but a bridesmaid. The 28-year-old Tunisian made too many unforced errors to win her first Grand Slam title, and she seemed defeated at times during the match.
She was defeated in the finals of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2022, and in the quarterfinals of the 2023 French Open.
But throughout the event, Jabeur was able to cast aside those demons, as she defeated three top-10 opponents en route to the final, including Elena Rybakina, who had defeated Jabeur at Wimbledon the year before.
However, it was not enough, and Jabeur made no attempt to hide her grief. She didn’t avoid optimism, either.
She called it “the most heartbreaking professional defeat” she has ever experienced. “One day, I will return and I will win this tournament.”
Before this match, Vondrouová had a lot of success against Jabeur. In the third round at Indian Wells, she won in straight sets, and in the second round at the Australian Open, she won in three sets.
The victory was even the more surprising considering she hadn’t made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament since 2019, when she was defeated by Ashleigh Barty at the age of 19 at the French Open.
Where will Vondrouová go from here? The introduction of a fresh ink. After the match, she told reporters that her coach had promised to get a tattoo with her if she ever won a Grand Slam.
