WIMBLEDON, England — She arrived at the All England Club with four wins on a grass court in her career and one WTA title to her name. But at Wimbledon, 24-year-old Marketa Vondrousova undid each of her higher-ranked opponents one smooth, steady shot at a time.
Perhaps it was a lack of nerves after she just picked up a racket again in October following two wrist surgeries on her playing arm. A year ago, she attended the most prestigious Grand Slam event as a visitor with her left wrist in a cast to watch her doubles partner play the qualifying tournament.
On Saturday, Vondrousova lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish strong above her head and gave it a kiss. The world No. 42 had completed her improbable run with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 6 Ons Jabeur to become a first-time Grand Slam winner on her second appearance in a final — she lost the 2019 French Open final to Ashleigh Barty — with another Czech-born lefty, Martina Navratilova, watching from the stands.
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“Tennis is crazy,” Vondrousova said, laughing.
With the victory, she became the lowest-ranked and first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon and just the third Czech woman to claim the title after Petra Kvitova and Jana Novotna. (Navratilova won her record nine Wimbledon titles after she defected to the United States in 1975.)
“The first unseeded ever! I love it,” said another spectator — Billie Jean King — as Vondrousova walked through the hallways of Centre Court afterward. Vondrousova was the first unseeded woman to reach the Wimbledon final since King in 1963.
To get the trophy, Vondrousova had to beat five seeded players; she was the first to do so since Kvitova won her first Wimbledon in 2011. She trailed in each set Saturday before breaking back. Leading 40-0 in the final game, she paused to take a few gulps of air before calmly serving out the match.
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Her unruffled, elegant defense frustrated Jabeur from nearly the start — especially because it was Jabeur who was dictating.
The 28-year-old from Tunisia arrived at this final as the favorite to both oddsmakers and the crowd. A beloved player on tour, Jabeur endeared herself to spectators at Wimbledon last year, when she became the first Arab woman to make a Grand Slam final before losing to Elena Rybakina.
She went on to make the U.S. Open final after that and lost to Iga Swiatek. Saturday’s result puts her on a lofty list of women who lost their first three Grand Slam finals, including Chris Evert, Kim Clijsters and Simona Halep.
“Four, actually, Kim was just telling me,” Jabeur said of Clijsters, who then went on to win her last four major finals. “We were crying together in the locker room.”
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That is little consolation to Jabeur, who took down four major champions en route to the championship match and entered the final as the most successful grass-court WTA player in years, having won 28 matches on the surface since the start of 2021. She broke down in tears during the trophy ceremony and received a comforting hug from Catherine, Princess of Wales, the royal patron of the All England Club. As she held the runner-up trophy, applause rained down on Centre Court.
“I think this is the most painful loss of my career,” she said, pausing to collect herself. “… But I’m not going to give up. I’m going to come back stronger and win a Grand Slam one day.”
Then she addressed her team: “We’re going to make it one day. I promise you.”
The match began under a closed roof shielding the players from wind gusting up to 50 mph — perhaps a good omen for Vondrousova, who executed a comeback against world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals and beat three-time major semifinalist Elina Svitolina in the semifinals under closed roofs. As the aggressor from the beginning, Jabeur started confidently and deployed several different shots in her multi-tool arsenal to break Vondrousova’s serve and take a 2-0 lead.
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But rallies began to extend as both players used heavy slice, and Vondrousova made clear her willingness to chase down every ball at the end of a long two weeks. Cracks in Jabeur’s game began to show quickly — on serve in the third game, she saved one break point before clipping the net on the second to hand Vondrousova the break back.
By the next game, Jabeur was already doubled over and smacking her legs in frustration after flubbing her groundstrokes. Vondrousova got in her opponent’s head then, reading her drop shots well enough to run each one down and frustrate her even more.
“Marketa just put the ball in, slices a lot. I believe that it was completely different match from the last three that I had,” Jabeur said. “So maybe adapting to her rhythm was very difficult for me — plus the pressure and the stress of the final.”
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Vondrousova took the first set in 40 minutes.
Jabeur left the court to regroup during the break, but it did no good. She needed more than a few minutes to refill what was clearly an empty tank. She continued just barely missing the slick shots she usually makes and clipping the tape across the top of the net. In all, Jabeur had 31 unforced errors to Vondrousova’s 13. The Czech, meanwhile, was like a brick wall, winning six of her seven break points.
She sank to her knees when she won and crumpled further from there, rolling onto her back on the grass where she once felt so inadequate.
“I think it was the most impossible Grand Slam for me to win, so I didn’t even think of it,” said Vondrousova, who was such a long shot that Nike allowed her apparel contract to expire last year. “When we came, I was just like, ‘Try to win couple of matches.’ ”
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She was so caught off guard by her success that her family stayed home until the final weekend. Vondrousova’s sister flew in Friday, and her husband arrived just in time for the final — and for her first wedding anniversary Sunday. She needed directions on how to climb up from the court to her player box, where her family cried upon hugging her.
“I was just, like, open-minded. I didn’t have much stress till today,” Vondrousova said. “I think you just have to believe in yourself. I was just trying not to think much about the title and everything. You just have to stay focused and in your head and just have the small circle around you, just do the same things as you always do. Yeah, I feel like anything can happen.”
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