“I was crazy nervous!” Unseeded Vondrousova overcomes anxiety to reach Wimbledon final

Marketa Vondrousova is into her first-ever Wimbledon final – after arriving in SW19 with only five grass-court wins to her name

Marketa Vondrousova after winning her Wimbledon semi-final (Action Plus/Panoramic)

Carrie Dunn

July 13, 2023

Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded women’s singles finalist at Wimbledon in the Open Era as she defeated Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3.

Svitolina and Vondrousova had never met before on grass, but the Czech had won their two most recent matches in straight sets – on the Tokyo hard courts for the 2021 Olympic Games, and on clay in Rome in 2020.

Vondrousova raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set, but although Svitolina reeled off three games in a row to close the scoreline, she was broken once more to give the Czech the chance to serve it out.

And although it seemed as if her arms were tiring, she got the job done, dropping to her knees after match point and tugging her visor down slightly to hide her evident emotion.

“I was crazy nervous. I was nervous the whole match!” Vondrousovoa admitted afterwards.

“I didn’t play for six months last year. You never know if you can be at that level again.”

Svitolina too was tearful, red-eyed as she waved to the crowd and headed off Centre Court.

As for Vondrousova’s intentions for the next 48 hours, she revealed: “I’m going to chill. I have my friends here, maybe my family will come, we’ll see!”

Vondrousova breaks records

She is the first unseeded women’s singles finalist at Wimbledon since 1963 – when Billie Jean Moffitt – later King – lost to Margaret Smith, later Court.

And she also boasts a 100 per cent record in Slam semi-finals, having beaten Johanna Konta at Roland Garros back in 2019, going on to finish as runner-up.

She is even closing in on a grass-court record in credit – currently standing at 10-11.

Of course, Vondrousova joins a stellar line-up of Czech women who have graced the Wimbledon final, along with Jana Novotna, Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova.