Wimbledon triumph may just be the beginning for Marketa Voundrousova

(Wimbledon) Marketa Vondrousova held four chocolate candies in her left hand, the one that helped her win the women’s singles at the Wimbledon Open tennis tournament, as she sat with half a dozen reporters for one of his last interviews of the evening.

A special treat, perhaps, to reward herself for becoming a Grand Slam champion at the age of 24?

Not really.

“I like sweets, so I eat them all the time,” Vondrousova said with a smile, hours after beating Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 on center court on Saturday, becoming the first unranked woman among the top seeds to win the singles title at the All England Club.

Some tennis players, it has been noted, allow themselves this kind of indulgence only after a tournament is over.

“No,” she retorted. I don’t really care about that sort of thing. I also went to a McDonald’s afterwards, I believe, [avoir battu Jessica Pegula en quarts de finale]. So I’m just a normal person. »

Barely.

There’s something quite unique about Vondrousova, a left-hander from the Czech Republic who was the calmest player, with the most consistent shots, for the 80 minutes it took her to overcome a higher-ranked and more experienced opponent, under a retractable roof that had been closed due to strong winds.

It’s possible. One of the key stats from Saturday’s duel was the number of unforced errors: 13 by Vondrousova compared to 31 by Jabeur.

But there is more than that.

Vondrousova, who is expected to move from 42^e at the 10^e place in the WTA rankings on Monday is shaping up to be a player not to be taken lightly. A player with a mix of talent and daring who may just be starting to appear on the biggest stages of her sport.

And what must make other players wary is that if Vondrousova has been able to find success on grass – which is far from her favorite surface – she really should be someone to watch, whatever the type of tournament in which it will participate.

As a teenager in 2019, also unseeded, Vondrousova reached the French Open final on clay before losing to Ashleigh Barty.

Two years ago, she qualified for the final match at the Tokyo Olympics, on hard court, before losing against Belinda Bencic and settling for a silver medal.

If we add to that what she managed to do at Wimbledon, on grass, by eliminating five seeds, including Jabeur (6^e), who was a three-time runner-up in a major tournament, anything is possible.

Let’s think about it: Before going on a perfect run of seven wins in as many games over the past two weeks, Vondrousova’s record at the All England Club was 1-4. We are therefore talking about three losses in the first round and another in the second round.

“On the grass, I was not playing very well”, she admitted on Saturday, thinking of these past results and remembering her learning tennis on clay in a club in Prague from the age of eight years.

“So I would never have thought [gagner à Wimbledon]. And if someone had told me that before the tournament, I would have replied: “No, it’s madness. “I think clay was the best [surface] For me. Now it’s grass. »

Then she started laughing.

“I have no problem with hard surfaces [ou] clay, and now I have no problem with grass either. So we’ll see what happens,” added Vondrousova, who had already drunk the first of what she said were likely to be several celebratory beers.

“But I feel like for me now it’s great to know that I can play anywhere. »

She describes herself as “obsessed with tennis”, constantly following several matches at the same time. “I have my iPad, my iPhone, everything. »

Last year, his absence from the circuit from April to October due to a left wrist injury was therefore not easy.

She explained that she suffered a stress fracture which left fragments of bone in two different places, which required two operations and a cast that went almost to her shoulder. At the end of the season, she almost lost her place in the top 100. Nike, she claimed, did not renew an expiring sponsorship deal.

According to the Czech, the second operation was particularly stressful.

“I couldn’t watch tennis. I was really sad. I was playing long before, and then [les problèmes de poignet] arrived. I then thought to myself, “Oh, my God. I will not stay healthy. » […] And when you come back, you never know what to expect. »

It’s true. There’s no way to know what to expect now, either. But given her versatility, age and ability to adapt to different surfaces, a healthy Vondrousova seems capable of a lot.