LONDON – Get the needles ready. Tomorrow Czech Marketa Vondrousova will get one more tattoo for her collection, in reference to her Wimbledon title won this Saturday: the Venus Rosewater Dish (the Wimbledon ladies’ trophy) or maybe a strawberry, the pop icon of the tournament? She doesn’t know yet, but both Vondrouova and her coach (who bet that if her player won, he would also get a tattoo) will add some ink to their skins.
Vondrousova is a big fan of tattoos, and is one of the few tennis players on the tour to show off her arms full of different designs, having visited several studios in her city, where she has been tattooed by mainly women artists. “No rain, no flowers”, says one, which refers to the sacrifice she has gone through before success. Something that made a lot of sense on this Saturday, July 15.
The Czech has suffered with injuries. At the last Wimbledon she was just another spectator. With her wrist immobilized after a second surgery, she was then supporting her friend and this year’s doubles partner Miriam Kolodziejova in the qualifiers. That was followed by a week of sightseeing in London, before marrying her partner Stepan Simek.
The 24-year-old tennis player will have double reason to celebrate, the Wimbledon title after beating Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4, and her one-year anniversary with Simek, who made an emergency trip to London. The couple had agreed that he would stay in Prague looking after Frankie, their cat. So they had to make last-minute arrangements: “We sent a message to the catsitter, Stepan will come with my sister.”
The Czech became the first unseeded player in the history of the tournament to win it. She also did it without an official clothing sponsor. After her series of injuries, Nike did not want to renew her, and she played these two weeks in London with last year’s clothes.
On the other hand, Africa and the Arab world will have to wait to glorify their first Grand Slam champion. Jabeur played her worst match of the tournament after navigating a very difficult draw to the final, in which she had to beat four Grand Slam winners: Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Petra Kvitova and Bianca Andreescu.
“It’s the most painful defeat of my career,” said Jabeur with her second silver platter that recognizes her as runner up. Then, at press conference, very hurt, she expressed her pain: “I was crying with Kim Clijsters in the locker room”.
Great tennis players like the Belgian (4), Simona Halep (3) and Chris Evert (3), have lost their firsts Grand Slam finals before becoming multi-champions. A consolation, and a sort of inspiration for the Tunisian’s future.
