After defeating sixth seed Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-4 in the championship match, Marketa Vondrouová became the first unseeded woman to win the Wimbledon women’s singles crown.
The unseeded 24-year-old from the Czech Republic succeeded where so many others this season have fallen short by repeatedly breaking Jabeur’s serve.
Four years after she lost the French Open final as a 19-year-old, it is this that has made her the Wimbledon winner.
The Tunisian had a 90% winning percentage in service games going into the match. She barely garnered 40% of the vote in the final (four out of ten).
Jabeur, who wanted to become the first player from North Africa and the first Arab to win a grand slam trophy, found Vondrouová’s comeback to be simply too much.
She now joins Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna, and Petra Kvitova as celebrated tennis players who have won Wimbledon.
Vondrousova, ranked No 42, beat American Peyton Stearns (6-2, 7-5), Russian Veronika Kudermetova, the No 12 seed (6-3, 6-3), Croat Donna Vekic, the No 20 seed (6-1, 7-5), No 32 seed Marie Bouzkova (2-6, 6-4, 6-3), American Jessica Pegula, the No 4 seed (6-4, 2-6, 6-4) and Ukrainian wildcard Elina Svitolina (6-3, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.
Former champions Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Ann Jones, Marion Bartoli and Conchita Martinez were also in the Royal Box, along with Academy Award-winning actor Maggie Smith, Priyanka Chopra and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
All eyes will now be on the men’s final on Sunday, which will feature reigning champion Novak Djokovic and world number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
