Marketa Vondrousova’s unlikely bid to burst Ons Jabeur’s dream
I
t may fairly be argued that Ons Jabeur had a comparatively straightforward draw eventually 12 months’s Wimbledon, not so in 2023.
In every of the final 4 rounds she has confronted a four-time grand slam champion in Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Petra Kvitova and Bianca Andreescu, at the least three of which had been affordable picks to win the event in the beginning of it a fortnight in the past. And solely a type of matches has not gone the space.
And but the ‘Minister for Happiness’ finds herself once again back in the final in opposition to a participant who may barely have been anybody’s decide to make it to the latter phases in London.
The unexpectedness of Marketa Vondrousova’s run is such that not even her husband, Stepan, determined to attend the event. Instead, the couple agreed that he would keep at their residence in Prague and work.
On Friday, he flew into London with Vondrousova’s sister whereas the couple’s cat, Frankie, is now within the arms of the cat sitter forward of her second grand slam last.
That first last on the French Open in 2019 was no much less of a shock, then as a result of she was merely an up-and-coming teenager, this time due to her earlier plight.
Vondrousova was in attendance at Wimbledon a 12 months in the past however with a solid round her left wrist following a second surgical procedure on the injured joint. Instead, she watched her buddy and doubles companion this 12 months Miriam Kolodziejova attempt to make her means via the qualifiers.
What adopted was per week of being a vacationer in London, using on the London Eye, consuming out and going purchasing on at the least 5 completely different events.
“After everything I’ve been through, two surgeries, it’s not always easy to come back,” she mentioned. “You don’t know if you can play at this level and if you can be back at the top and back at these tournaments. I just feel grateful to be on a court again, to play without pain.”
With the harm, she tumbled down the world rankings and located herself dumped by her sponsor Nike, a transfer the corporate would possibly now be regretting.
And unsurprisingly for a participant who has by no means made it past the second spherical at Wimbledon, she has made her way through to the final relatively under the radar.
Jabeur has grown accustomed to energy tennis in her final two matches in opposition to final 12 months’s champion Rybakina and the winner of the Australian Open, Sabalenka. This is a wholly completely different match-up between two aesthetically pleasing types of play.
It can also be a participant the Tunisian has curiously struggled in opposition to. Twice, they’ve met this season – together with on the Australian Open – and twice she has misplaced.
“I’m going for my revenge,” she mentioned, albeit gentle heartedly. “I didn’t win against her this year. She has good hands, she plays very good.
“Honestly, I will try to focus on myself a lot. I’m not sure how she’s going to play second grand slam final. We’re both hungry to win. Whoever deserves it more will win.”
Jabeur has needed to recuperate from shedding the primary set in three of her final 4 matches. In her on-court interview instantly after beating Sabalenka, she admitted it was a match she would have misplaced a 12 months in the past and one way or the other she clung on.
“I’m working on myself like crazy, you have no idea what I’m doing,” she mentioned. “I’m very tough on myself, trying to improve everything. If you are not ready physically, mentally you can’t always win. That’s probably what happened in the last two matches.”
Ahead of her third grand slam last – she additionally reached final 12 months’s US Open last, she mentioned: “I’m definitely getting closer to winning the grand slam that I always wanted. I would say I always believed but sometimes you would question and doubt if it’s going to happen, if it’s ever going to happen.
“Being in the last stages does help you believe more. For me, I’m going to learn a lot from not only Wimbledon’s final but also the US Open, and give it my best. Maybe this year was all about trying two times and getting it right the third time.”