Raducanu rise made much more spectacular by this 12 months’s Wimbledon regardless of absence

Marketa Vondrousova turned one of many tales of Wimbledon when she lifted the trophy on Saturday. The 24-year-old is the primary unseeded girl within the Open Era to be topped the champion at SW19. It means her final defeat on the All England Club got here to Emma Raducanu in 2021 – making the Brit’s preliminary speedy rise much more spectacular.

Two years in the past, Raducanu made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon after being given a wildcard. Ranked at No 338 on the planet on the time, she was initially solely given a go into qualifying earlier than it was bumped as much as the primary draw.

Aged simply 18 and coming in off the again of her A Level exams, she stormed into the second week earlier than retiring with respiration difficulties within the fourth spherical. At the time, Raducanu confronted no seeded opponents or champions however one among her victims has now turn into the game’s newest first-time Grand Slam winner at Wimbledon.

Raducanu defeated Vondrousova 6-2 6-4 within the second spherical in 2021. At that time, the Czech star had reached one Major last on the 2019 French Open and was nonetheless a troublesome opponent. But taking part in at Wimbledon for the primary time since shedding to Raducanu, the 24-year-old went on to raise the title this 12 months.

It leaves Raducanu because the final girl to beat Vondrousova at SW19 because the world No 10 had wrist surgical procedure final 12 months and was in a forged throughout the 2022 version of the Championships, that means she couldn’t play – and as a substitute visited the qualifying occasion as a spectator. This 12 months, she returned ranked at No 42 and performed her first match on the small Court 7 – which has only one row of stands for spectators.

She defeated three seeded gamers in a row – Veronika Kudermetova, Donna Vekic and Marie Bouzkova – earlier than developing towards world No 4 Jessica Pegula within the quarter-final. There, Vondrousova rallied from 1-4 down within the last set to reel off 5 straight video games and e book her spot within the semi-final.

The 24-year-old ousted Elina Svitolina to succeed in her second Major last 4 years after her first and wanted simply 80 minutes to defeat sixth seed Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-4, lifting the largest title of her profession. Having gone into Wimbledon unseeded, Vondrousova made her prime 10 debut because of her win.