Roof raises Vondrousova’s game as the Wimbledon champion admits controversial decision helped win

Marketa Vondrousova admitted Wimbledon’s controversial decision to close the roof for Saturday’s final helped her become the first unseeded player to win the women’s title.

The sun was shining and there was no significant rain, but Wimbledon had decided to close the roof in the morning because of the 70 km/h wind.

“I was very happy that they closed the roof, because that is very different from windy weather,” said the 24-year-old Czech after a 6-4 6-4 victory over Ons Jabeur.

“The roof can help you serve. You just have to concentrate on the game, not the wind, not even the sun. I’m used to playing indoors. We practice indoors in winter in Prague. I always play well indoors.’

In her quarterfinal, Vondrousova was down by a break in the deciding set as the roof closed and she came back to win. Her semi-final against Elina Svitolina was played indoors due to rain and she won 6-3 6-3. She played her last four and a half sets of the indoor tournament and won them all.

The roof was closed before play due to high winds, a controversial decision with no rain

“I don’t know,” Jabeur said when asked what impact closing the roof had on the game. “Maybe today it helped her to play well and put more balls in. I don’t know if the roof had been open, then it would have been a different story.’

A Wimbledon statement read: ‘We have been monitoring the weather forecast and in light of the yellow weather warning we have decided to close the roof on Center Court and No 1 Court.’

Either way, this was a pretty amazing outcome for a woman who had won just one game in four previous visits to the All England Club and was in a cast this time last year. “This seems impossible,” said the world number 42. “I didn’t play well on grass before, I think it was the most impossible Grand Slam for me to win. When we came I was like, “Try to win a few games”. Now that this has happened, it’s crazy.’

Jabeur, meanwhile, admitted she wasn’t sure what impact the roof had, though she broke down after the game

It was a crushing defeat for Jabeur, who was a heavy favorite to win but has now lost two Wimbledon finals in a row, along with last year’s US Open final. Her tears flowed freely after the match and she was comforted by the Princess of Wales.

When asked what was said, the 28-year-old Tunisian replied: “Same as last year: to encourage me to be strong, come back and win a Grand Slam, win Wimbledon. She was very nice. She didn’t know whether to give me a hug or not. I told her that hugs are always welcome for me. That was a very nice moment.’

There was an unfortunate start to the day for Jabeur, who came dressed in black for practice on Center Court, only to be dropped off and sent to dress in all white.

Players may wear any color on the practice ranges, except for Centre. “I completely forgot,” said the number 6 seed. “It was a genuine mistake.”