Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova reveals struggles with family heartache have pulled her away from tennis while she is getting divorced – and she’s relying on her sister after husband moved out

Marketa Vondrousova has opened up about her difficult ‘final weeks’, with her divorce following the death of her grandfather, Stanislav, causing her to leave Indian Wells prematurely earlier this year.

Vondrousova set the tennis world on fire last summer when she became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon. She defeated Ons Jabbeur 6-4 6-4 to take her first Grand Slam title.

The 24-year-old added glory in SW19 to a second-place finish at the French Open and Olympic silver from 2020.

Still, she pulled out of Indian Wells early earlier this year, revealing that the reason behind it was to be with her grandfather, who had been diagnosed with cancer and whose health was deteriorating.

In an interview with Czech publication Blesk, Vondrousova has opened up about an understandably difficult period, but stressed that she is still looking forward to taking the court in what should be a very busy few months at the French Open, Wimbledon. and Olympic Games.

In March, she paid a touching tribute to her grandfather, Stanislav, in an Instagram post

Vondrousova has revealed she broke up with husband Stepan Simek just nine months after he celebrated her Wimbledon win

‘I heard in America that he was no longer doing well, so I definitely wanted to see him again and say goodbye. I am very happy that I flew and that I succeeded. He still saw that we were together…

‘I find it difficult to talk about it even now. You realize what is important in the world and essential in life, that tennis is definitely not everything.

‘My grandfather was the person who started my tennis career, he was there for everything that was important. Without him I would never have achieved what I have achieved in my career.

‘I was with my family, my parents and my sister. We supported and held each other, we all loved grandpa very much.

“And we said goodbye to him together, even though there was no public funeral.”

She added: ‘After my grandfather’s death there was no point in flying back to America, then qualifying for the Billie Jean King Cup was on the agenda where we were given a wildcard and didn’t play. So I waited until Stuttgart and my favorite clay. And after a break like that, I was pretty good at her.”

In March, Vondrousova paid tribute to her grandfather via Instagram in a touching post that included several photos of her as a child and on her wedding day with her family.

“Thank you for everything grandpa, you were the best,” she wrote.

Vondrousova became the first unseeded player to win the women’s singles title at Wimbledon

Vondrousova (right) admitted that without Stanislav’s influence she would not have reached the heights of her career

Earlier this week it was revealed that Vondrousova and her husband of almost two years were divorcing, with the tennis star admitting that ‘it just didn’t work for us’.

The 24-year-old married Stepan Simek, two years her senior and a former junior tennis player, in July 2022 after a year-long engagement.

Simek, whose promising tennis career was ended by injury, and Vondrousova had known each other since their teenage years.

The two started dating in 2016 before Simek, an IT manager in the Czech Republic, proposed in August 2021, shortly after Vondrousova won silver at the Tokyo Olympics.

‘Our marriage to Stepan ended a few weeks ago, we broke up. He left with the cat.

‘We just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t what either of us imagined, so we agreed not to be together anymore. Now we are formally resolving the divorce, but we agree on everything.”

Simek made headlines last summer when he missed his wife’s impressive Wimbledon run while caring for Frankie, their sphinx cat, in Prague.

The 26-year-old was at Vondrousova’s first Grand Slam final in 2019 when she lost in straight sets to Ashleigh Barty in the Roland-Garros final.

But after beating Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-finals, Vondrousova revealed she had texted her husband to discuss the possibility of him flying to London for the final and said they had agreed to call a cat sitter.

Vondrousova admitted tennis was “not everything” after rushing home to be with her loved ones

Vondrousova’s husband stayed home in Prague during her Wimbledon run last year to care for their cat named Frankie (right)

Vondrousova admitted she is “looking forward” to a busy summer period with plenty of tennis to be played in the coming months.

‘I look forward! I am now playing the nearest tournaments in Madrid and Rome, and in August I will defend the silver medal in Paris. The Olympic Games are held once every four years, it will be an exceptional tournament. I’m slowly starting to organize a family outing so my loved ones can cheer me on

‘At other tournaments we never know which day and on which course we will start. At Wimbledon the defenders have it in advance, that’s a big habit.

‘I’m really looking forward to it, but I’m already starting to get quite stressed, another match in the center, and immediately in the first round. Obviously there’s going to be some expectations, so I’ll try to deal with that somehow.”