Marketa Vondrousova upsets Our Jabeur to become Wimbledon champion as unseeded Czech wins in straight sets 6-4, 6-4
- The first set saw a total of five breaks and Jabeur committed 15 unforced errors as she struggled early on
- Nerves seemed to get the better of the favorite, as she lost for the third time in a Grand Slam final
- The match ended 6-4, 6-4 as both players showed their emotions during the post-match presentation
- Latest Wimbledon 2023 news, including schedule, travel updates and results
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World No. 42 Marketa Vondrousova became yet another unforeseen Wimbledon women’s champion as she claimed a strangely undulating final amid a medley of errors from Ons Jabeur.
The popular Tunisian once again found herself deeply frustrated with a third Grand Slam final begging as she lost 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 20 minutes.
In an unusual move, the decision was made to close the roof due to the wind, rather than rain, and the extra control provided would help the more expansive Czech, who had played significantly better in previous matches, such as against Elina Svitolina, when he was protected from disturbance by the elements.
Jabeur made too many mistakes and will wonder what would have happened against a conservative opponent who had ten winners over the two sets.
The Princess of Wales attended, with no chance of having to hand over the trophy to a Belarusian. Instead it would be either the world No. 42 or last year’s defeated finalist blasted through the field after a relatively mediocre year.
Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon when she defeated Ons Jabeur in straight sets
Jabeur fell short in her bid to become the first African woman to win the title when she lost on center court
The Princess of Wales was on hand to present the trophies on Center Court after the match
Jabeur had beaten some big hitters en route to the finals and this would be another challenge against the slim lefthander who relies more on her use of hooks and spins than on crunching the ball down the field.
The Tunisian looked a little nervous in the opening points, but soon seemed temporarily more comfortable – when she forced an early break by hitting deep on the Czech’s forehand.
The advantage was short-lived as Vondrousova broke back amid some remarkably lengthy rallies suggesting that the public would be getting some value for the hefty £255 per ticket they had paid.
Breaks were swapped because, oddly enough, both players won more points on return than serve. Jabeur slipped back to 4-5 as her first serve percentage dropped below 50, and she looked increasingly stressed from the left-handed blows coming her way as she struggled to get her groundstrokes in by the time she took the first set dropped.
Things quickly spiraled out of control when she was broken for 1-0 in the second set and chose to walk around the net on the other side of her seat at the substitution.
The crowd tried to lift her up and eventually it seemed to work as she stopped missing and hit some glorious backhands to break back.
She appeared to have come out 3-1 in this oddly shaky encounter, but once again the Czech came back with Jabeur’s body language clearly dejected again.
At 4-4, she made a succession of misses to be broken, and Vondrousova served it out with relative lack of drama, hitting away a forehand volley on her second match point.
“This is very hard, I think this is the most painful loss of my career,” she said after the game. “It’s been a tough day, but I’m not giving up, I’m coming back stronger. It was a great tournament for me. I wish I could have made it to the end,” Jabeur said in tears on the track. .
“After everything I’d been through, I got a plaster cast around this time last year, tennis is great,” said Vondrousova, who was in London as a tourist this time a year ago.