Linda Noskova recovered from a harrowing second-set collapse to beat her good friend Karolina Muchova in the all-Czech Republic Wimbledon final on Saturday.
The 21-year-old, playing in her first Grand Slam final, appeared to be surging to a comprehensive victory at the All England Club as she served for the match at 6-2, 5-2 up. But Noskova then suffered a nightmare run of losing five games on the spin, that included failing to take five championship points, as her more experienced opponent fought her way back into the contest.
The rollercoaster match then took another twist as Noskova suddenly regained her composure before going on to seal a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory with both players left in tears afterwards.
Noskova becomes the sixth Czech player to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish after Martina Navratilova (nine titles), Jana Novotna (two), Petra Kvitova, Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova (one each). Noskova is youngest women's Wimbledon champion since Kvitova in 2011.
The ninth seed also becomes the ninth successive first-time champion on the London grass with no dominating force in the women's game at SW19 since Serena Williams earned the last of her seven titles in 2016.
“I have been enjoying these two weeks so much, through the sad tears and the happy tears, all the sweat and blood I put into this,” an emotional Noskova said on court after blowing a kiss to the sky in honour of her mum who died two years ago.
“It was all worth it, so I will definitely never forget this week, these two weeks.”
It was a second Grand Slam final appearance for 10th seed Muchova – having finished runner-up to Iga Swiatek at the 2023 French Open – while Noskova was enjoying the best run of her career, having reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2024.
But you would hardly know who was the more experienced player in first set that saw Noskova power to victory in just 35 minutes.
The 29-year-old, who holds a 29-0 record this season when taking the first set, was now going to have to do it the hard way. It looked all but over in the second when Muchova was broken to go 4-2 down with Noskova holding her serve to go within game one of the title.
But Muchova at least showed that she was not going down without some sort of fight as she saved three championship points to drag one game back and then another to break, breaking her increasingly nervy opponent to make it 5-4.
A rattled Noskova walked back to her chair withe fingers in her ears, clearly trying to block out the noise and pressure on a suddenly excited Centre Court.
And she was would waste yet another championship point in the next game before Muchova fought back again to level at 5-5. “This is dry-mouth tennis. So many nerves,” said former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I love this stuff, [it's] like penalty shoot-outs [in football].”
And the tension now clearly affecting Noskova who would be left hiding her head under a towel at her seat after being broken by Muchova, who on to hold serve out to ensure a deciding set. “This is all falling to pieces for Noskova,” added Cash. “It is getting worse and worse unfortunately for her.”
She had to dig deep at the start of the third to save three break points before securing a vital hold after losing five consecutive games and then, having looked mentally broken only minutes earlier, Noskova suddenly took charge again surging into a 3-0 and then 5-2 lead.
An unlike the previous set, there was to be no capitulation from Noskova who went on to win the match with what was her sixth championship point.
“That is one of the all-time greatest efforts you will ever see on this court,” said three-time Wimbledon singles champion John McEnroe on BBC One. “Sometimes you feel lucky when you are sitting here and this is one of those times. It was two athletes doing everything they possibly could do to win this title.”
As for Muchova, she started her on-court speech by joking about her now “ex-friend” before paying tribute to her Paris Olympics doubles partner.
“You are so young, this is your first final at Grand Slam, the way you handled it and the way you played is really unbelievable,” she said. “Beyond this you are especially very kind person, and human being, so congratulations to you and your team. You deserve it.
“I will be fighting more, I want the trophy and I hope I can reach the final again and can come back and win.”
