Marketa Vondrousova is the newest member of the Grand Slam champion family, after winning by 2-0 (6:4, 6:4) in an intriguing Wimbledon final against Ons Jabeur (Tunisia).
The Czech player is the first unranked tennis player to conquer Wimbledon, and even with reachingthe final, she joined the prestigious company of Serena Williams. The American legend in 2018 (181st in the world) was so far the only unranked finalist on the “sacred grass” in London.
Marketa Vondrousova is the 24th different winner of the Grand Slam tournaments and the 59th in the history of “major” competitions. For her, it was her second Grand Slam final, after losing to Iga Swiatek for the Roland Garros trophy in 2019.
Marketa Vondrousova is also the third Czech Wimbledon champion after Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova.
“I don’t know what’s going on. Congratulations to Ons Jabeur, she’s an amazing person and an example for all of us. I wish you to win this title. After everything I’ve been through, it’s amazing that I’m here now holding this trophy”, said Marketa Vondrousova after the final. “It was difficult, I played small tournaments at first, but I managed to come back. I want to thank my team, they are great. I am incredibly happy and proud of myself. I was very nervous before the match, but I am grateful to everyone for their support”, added she.
Ons Jabeur, for the third time in her career, has to swallow the disappointment of losing the Grand Slam final – last year on the “sacred grass” at the “All England Club” she lost to Elena Rybakina, and later at the US Open she was defeated by Iga Swiatek. She burst into tears at the award ceremony and could not hide her bitterness at the new defeat. Ons Jabeur has eight losses in a total of 12 finals in his career so far, three of them in the Slam.
“It’s really very difficult to talk at the moment. It’s the most painful loss of my career. Congratulations to Marketa for an amazing performance, I know she’s had a lot of injuries and I’m happy for her”, said Ons Jabeur. “It will be a difficult day for me, but I will not give up, I want to come back even stronger. It was an amazing tournament for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get the trophy, but I will one day. I promise I will win this title”, added the Tunisian player.
Marketa Vondrousova vs Ons Jabeur match
The match started in favor of Ons Jabeur, although she had to reverse from 15-30, but he won his first service game, thanks mostly to two missed forehands. The Tunisian neutralized her opponent’s initial serves and got to two break points, thanks to quality returns. She materialized second chance for a break after Marketa Vondrousova’s unprovoked error on forehand and the Tunisian lead by 2:0.
Ons Jabeur again could not take her service game smoothly, allowing this time a reversal from 40-15 to deuce. A forehand error on the move even gave the Czech a chance to break, but it was neutralized with a nice drive-volley on the back diagonal to the right side of the racket of the world’s No 6. It went through another tie, and a backhand on the forehand by Ons Jabeur set it up again to defend the break ball. A forehand in the net from the middle of the court made the rebreak a fact – 2:1.
The Tunisian dominated from the baseline with her backhand and won a few games that allowed her to get a chance to break. However, she broke them with an unsuccessful short ball, but soon reached a new one, thanks to another determined forehand on the reverse diagonal. Ons Jabeur, however, could not make an accurate passing backhand, but in the very next play she succeeded with exactly this technique on the right to reach a third breakpoint. With two aces in a row, Marketa Vondrousova reflected both that and the fourth one, and a volley at the net gave her the advantage. In the end, the marathon game went to the account of the Czech woman equalizing to 2:2.
With a much smaller dose of stress and much more winning shots, Ons Jabeur relatively quickly and easily took a 3:2 lead. Marketa Vondrousova quickly took four points in a row after meeting and reduced her deficit to 4:3, just when it seemed as though Ons Jabeur had gathered herself and taken the reins of the match. The unseeded finalist leveled at 4:4 after finally benefiting from a series of forehands.
Ons Jabeur surprisingly missed an easy break at the net and had to fend off two break chances, miscuing a backhand and giving Marketa Vondrousova a great chance to serve for the set – 4:5. The Czech placed three excellent serves in a row for 40-0, which proved to be enough to close the set at 4:6 in 40 minutes.
The second set, Ons Jabeur extended her negative series and Marketa Vondrousova made a break to grab the fifth game in a row for 0:1. The Czech looked on her way to easily consolidate the break with quick points for 40-0, but her opponent showed great defense and with a passing backhand improved to 40-30. Ons Jabeur’s forehand winner earned her deuce. Not long after, the Tunisian’s aggression and certainty in her shots paid off with the return of the break, and she again had a reason to be inspired – 1:1.
Ons Jabeur regained her combativeness from the baseline and Marketa Vondrousova lost the solidity of her serve as her errors returned. Thus, another overturn was made – the Czech woman led with a break and 40-0, but instead the result became 3:1 in favor of the Tunisian woman after her second break in a row.
Marketa Vondrousova did not allow an even more serious lag to be reached and returned the break instantly, which once again contributed to the intrigue. The performances of both became even more varied, and the tendency to maintain drama in the result remained – 3:3.
As it happened in the match so far, the streaks of the two players found their end – now it was Ons Jabeur’s turn to stop one of her rival and finally win her service game for 4:3. However, Marketa Vondrousova also had no serious difficulties with her serve and both resumed the battle at 4:4.
However, the Tunisian succumbed to her nerves again and made an unprovoked error from the baseline, which led to a break chance for her opponent. A second inaccuracy in a row, this time from the forehand, already meant 4:5 and Marketa Vondrousova would serve for the title.
The Czech held the ball on a baseline play and waited for an error to make it 15-0, then made one of her rare forays to the net, which proved successful at 30-0. Another long exchange from the bottom of the court was won by Marketa Vondrousova after an exaggerated performance by Ons Jabeur and it came to a triple match point. The first evaporated after a double fault, but the second materialized with a net exit and a successful volley – 4:6, 4:6 in 82 minutes of play.
