Marketa Vondrousova is Wimbledon’s first unseeded female champion after beating Ons Jabeur

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A year ago, Marketa Vondrousova came to London during Wimbledon with her left arm in a cast, and plans to do some sightseeing and cheer on a friend who was trying to qualify for the main draw.

She’d had surgery on her playing hand to relieve constant pain and although she returned to Wimbledon this year as a player, her expectations were low. She was ranked 42nd in the world and so unheralded that Nike had ended her sponsorship deal. Even her husband, Stepan Simek, stayed home in Prague to look after their cat, Frankie. He had good reason, his wife had only won one match at Wimbledon in her career, so why make the trip?

But then something happened that even Vondrousova can’t explain. With nothing to lose, she found a rhythm and a game that proved unbeatable. She tore up the draw, taking down four seeded players en route to the final against world No. 6 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.

The run was supposed to stop there. No unseeded player had got this far in 60 years and no unseeded player had won the women’s title in the Open Era, which dates to 1968 when professionals were allowed to play.

The 24-year-old lefty held her nerve one more time and beat Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday. It’s the Czech’s first Wimbledon title and her first Grand Slam victory.

“I think nobody would have told you this before, when we were coming here, that I even have a chance to win,” she said after the match. “I mean, it’s such a crazy journey.”

This wasn’t supposed to be close. Jabeur, 28, had also plowed her way through the draw and defeated world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-final. She’d been driven by a deep desire to make up for losing last year’s final when she was also the favourite.

Jabeur was in a second consecutive Wimbledon final

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Jabeur got off to a quick start, breaking Vondrousova’s serve in the second game of the opening set. But Vondrousova steadied herself and broke back in the next game. She followed that up with a spectacular hold, fending off four break points as Jabeur grew increasingly frustrated.

Jabeur recovered enough to go up 4-2, but then she watched the set slip away as Vondrousova broke her serve twice more with a repertoire of delicately placed drop shots, clever slices, and a lethal serve. The Tunisian seemed lost, tight, and slammed her fist into her leg. She had 15 unforced errors in the first set and 31 overall, compared to 13 in total for Vondrousova.

“I tried to tell myself that nothing is over,” Jabeur said later. “It’s going to get better maybe. I’d been used to losing the first set in these last two matches, so I hoped maybe it would be better in the next few games.”

For Jabeur, the loss stung deeply. This was her third Grand Slam final and she has come up short each time. Throughout the tournament she had spoken about overcoming last year’s defeat, which hurt so much that she still hasn’t watched it.

She tried to stay loose during the tournament and keep the pressure in check. Last year she had a photo of the Venus Rosewater Dish as a background shot on her phone, but she dropped it this year in favour of a shot of her nephew and niece.

She also talked repeatedly about wanting to provide further inspiration to Arab girls and all of Africa. And her loyal fan base in Tunisia – where she is known as “the minister of happiness” – willed her on.

As she watched Vondrousova fall to her knees in victory, Jabeur could only weep. “I think this is the most painful loss of my career,” she told the crowd.

She tried to search for answers later during a news conference, but none came. Maybe the closed roof helped Vondrousova because she’s more used to playing indoors. Maybe the pressure became too much.

“Honestly, I felt a lot of pressure, feeling a lot of stress,” Jabeur said. “But like every final, like every match I played, I was telling myself it’s okay, it’s normal. I honestly did nothing wrong. I did everything that I could.”

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Vondrousova has only been to one other Grand Slam final before, at the French Open in 2019. She lost to Ashleigh Barty 6-1, 6-3, a crushing defeat that left her heartbroken. “I was very sad after,” Vondrousova said Saturday. “I just told myself if this happens again, you have to enjoy every moment. Even though if I lose, I just have to enjoy.”

Her name has already been etched on a giant plaque in the All England Tennis Club, joining Czech tennis greats Martina Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon champion, and Petra Kvitova who has won the trophy twice.

Voudrousova had one more score to settle before leaving London. She’s a big fan of body art and she’s become something of a sensation for the multitude of tattoos on her arms. She’d made a bet with her coach, Jan Mertl.

“We’d talked before the tournament and he said, ‘Yea, so maybe if you win a Grand Slam, then I’ll do it’ she recalled, referring to his promise to get a tattoo. “I hope he’s not going to go back. I think I’m just going to make him do it.”