Bill Simons
As Wimbledon began today, how could you not reflect on Martina Navratilova, sitting in red in the Royal Box? The godmother of Czech tennis once spit at tyranny, then kickstarted an imaginative yet steely legacy of Czech wizardry – a tennis tradition like no other. Grit inspires – so today, we had the first all-Czech Slam final in history. For the third time in four years, the landlocked land would give us a Wimbledon champion.
In an age of power, Karolina Muchova is an artist who prefers touch. In an era of pounding ball-strikers, she offers jazz solos. After so many brutal injuries and so many disappointments, could the WTA’s artist-in-residence finally paint her masterpiece?
Today, I also thought of a 21-year-old from a tiny town nestled in ancient Moravian hills, and her backstory. You see, when Linda Noskova first came to Wimbledon from Czechia two years ago, she was a crestfallen teen, playing through a fog of loss.
Her mother, Ivana – who ran a clothing shop in Vsetin and fiercely backed Linda’s dreams — had just lost her battle to cancer. Back then, for Noskova, simply stepping on court was a gritty act of courage.
But Linda is a battler. Sure, she hated the slippery challenges of grass court play, but she re-engineered her game. She crafted a mighty serve, and unleashed the second highest number of aces in the WTA last year.
This June, she won the Berlin warm-up tourney to punch her way into the Top Ten. At Wimbledon, she came back from match point down against Sorana Cîrstea in the third round to reach the second week of a Slam for only the second time.
In the semis, she unleashed her power and shocked the hottest player of the season, Marta Kostyuk, in just 73 no-nonsense minutes.
But today would be different. Playing your first Wimbledon final can be daunting, and her foe was almost like an older sister. She and Muchova were born 38 miles apart, and have been Olympic and training partners.
But, so what? Linda sprinted from the gate, fearless and focused. Calm yet powerful, she dominated on serve, absorbing Muchova’s pace. She bent low and hit lasers that found the corners. Dictating and playing on her terms, she embraced the moment and loved the stage. Muchova could only wonder what was coming next.
What a dazzling display. Newbies aren’t supposed to debut like this on the London stage. Rhythm, variety, balance, focus, grace, confident body language – the lady with the nose ring made the final seem like a three-ring circus.
Muchova – Ms. Beauty Will Save the World – was said to be the queen of finesse. But not today.
On Noskova’s fifth set point in the first set, Linda feathered a lovely lob, as if Wimbledon were a club final. Here was a star in ascendance, imposing her power. The daughter of a railroad worker was rolling down the tracks. Aces, flash forehands, backhands down the line.
Nineteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva danced in Paris. And a twenty-one year-old was having a blast in London. Oh, the freedom of youth – with nothing to lose. Broadcaster Richard Connelley asked, “Is Noskova having that glorious realization that she belongs? She’s absolutely loving it. She’s looking every inch the champion.”
Muchova, who’d beaten three Slam champs – Barbora Krejčíkova, Madison Keys and Coco Gauff – to reach the final, had prevailed in an epic semifinal.
Last year, Iga Swiatek beat the hapless Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in 57 minutes. What a dud. Now Noskova, in just 68 minutes, was on the cusp of glory 6-2, 5-2 and had a championship point. But it’s not over until the fat lady sings.
Tennis is funny, quirky, mental, cruel and unpredictable. If you have a demon, this game will poke at it. And unlike soccer and many other sports, you can’t run out the clock.
With glory around the corner, Noskova blinked just slightly. Her level dipped. Her arm got tight. Her once imposing serve wavered. She sprayed shots and played not to lose. Still, she got a championship point. But she couldn’t convert. No problem, there would be others. She didn’t claim her second championship point. Oh, dear.
Now Muchova was drawing on her competitive instincts and showing her pedigree. On match point in the semifinal, Coco had flubbed a drop shot. Today, under pressure, Muchova’s drop shot was a delicious delicacy.
In the 2025 French Open final against Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz saved two championship points. In the eighth game of the second set, the newly confident Muchova saved three, to claw back to 5-3.
Then, in a gut-wrenching 12-minute, 20-point game, Karolina failed to convert seven break points, but did save yet another championship point before at last breaking serve. Whew!
At the outset of today’s match, I’d thought of Navratilova. Now, memories of Jana Novotna flooded through my head. In 1995, against Stefanie Graf in the Wimbledon final, Jana was up 4-1 in the third, but suffered the most infamous choke in tennis history, and then slumped on the shoulder of the compassionate Duchess of Kent.
Would Princess Kate soon be comforting Linda?
In three games in a row, she failed to convert championship points. Overall, she squandered a stunning five championship points and, in the second set, lost five games in a row, as the match evened, a set apiece.
Muchova had all the momentum. She gained another break point. But the edgy 29-year-old is not a great closer. Plus, Noskova, when backstage during her bathroom break after the second set, spotted the Wimbledon trophy and told herself, “I’m taking this one, no matter what. If I’m going to leave my soul on court…whatever that [may] be. I just kind of started to focus on myself all over again, which was the key point.” She added that she certainly didn’t want to suffer “the heartbreak of my life.”
Then, in a feat of monumental mental toughness, Noskova reset, and somehow regained her calm, her confidence and her level. Her forehand again punished, and she raced to a 5-3 lead and a sixth championship point.
This time, there was no problem. After nearly three hours, Linda blasted a service winner to prevail 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 and become the fifth Czech Wimbledon winner since 2011. “She’s looked disaster in the eye,” noted Wimbledon Radio. “This was courage on a different level. If she can do this when facing the most gut-wrenching loss, what’s possible in the future?”
But, as the youngest Wimbledon champion in 15 years fell to the lawn in triumph and then rose in tears, I could only ask one question. How, in just two short years, did Noskova channel the sorrow of losing her mother into becoming a Wimbledon hero?
Shaking with emotion after one of Wimbledon’s most compelling finals, Linda told her mother, “I wouldn’t be here without you. I will never forget these two weeks.”
Neither will we.
