West News Wire: On Saturday, July 15, Marketa Vondrousova defeated Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 to win the women’s singles title at Wimbledon as the first unseeded winner.
Jabeur aimed to become the first Arab woman to win a Grand Slam tennis competition and the first African woman to win Wimbledon in the Open era.
However, an error-filled performance forced her to accept second place, just as she had done a year before. In her on-court interview, she called this “the most painful loss of my career” and said it was the result of a bad performance.
She fought back tears as she continued, “I promise I will come back one day and win this tournament.”
A year ago, Vondrousova had her wrist in a cast after surgery and was unsure whether she would be able to return to the top of the sport having reached the 2019 French Open final and won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021.
As she held the Venus Rosewater dish, she said, “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.”
The 24-year-old, who has become recognisable for her tattoos on her arms and had no sponsor during this tournament, celebrates her one-year wedding anniversary on Sunday. And as well as marking the occasion with husband Stepan Simek, she revealed she has another plan for her coach Jan Hernynch.
“I made a bet with my coach. He said that if I won a Grand Slam he was going to get one (a tattoo) also. I think we are going to go tomorrow!”
Vondrousova is the fourth Czech after Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title.
Despite her obvious disappointment, Jabeur was quick to go and hug the victor who claimed just the second title of her career and her first since winning the 2017 Biel Open as a 17-year-old.
