Paris 2024 Olympics: From wanting to quit, Vekic now in Summer Games final

Vekic, whose career was interrupted by a knee surgery, became so disillusioned before this year’s French Open that she came close to calling it a day.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Croatia’s Donna Vekic celebrates after winning her semifinal against Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova at Roland-Garros Stadium on Thursday. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Donna Vekic became Croatia’s first-ever Olympic singles finalist when she beat Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Thursday but not long ago she had considered quitting tennis altogether.

The 28-year-old, whose career was interrupted by a knee surgery, became so disillusioned before this year’s French Open that she came close to calling it a day.

She ploughed on though and reached the Wimbledon semifinals last month, losing a marathon match to Jasmine Paolini, and now she finds herself on the brink of a gold medal.

Speaking during her superb run at Wimbledon in July, the 21st ranked Vekic recalled her frame of mind before the French Open.

READ | Top seed Swiatek beaten in semifinals by China’s Zheng

“I wanted to pull out of the French Open. I wanted to go home. I wanted to take a longer break,” she said.

“I didn’t have any energy, any motivation to keep practicing, keep pushing because I felt like the last couple months I’ve given everything for tennis, and I wasn’t getting the results that I kind of expected.”

She lost in the third round at the French Open to qualifier Olga Danilovic but her return to Paris has been more successful.

Her run to the final included beating second seed Coco Gauff and surviving a three-hour epic against Marta Kostyuk in the quarter-finals in which she double-faulted on one match point.

She thrashed Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-0, saying she was in the zone, although she admitted to feeling more nervous than her recent Wimbledon semi-final that she lost in agonising fashion.

“It’s very tough for me to talk about the match right now because I was so nervous,” she told reporters.

“At times I just wanted to disappear from the court. I didn’t want to be out there. When you’re playing for a medal, it’s different than any other event, I was even more nervous than during the semi-final of Wimbledon.”

Vekic admitted to be surprised that she will not be facing world number one Iga Swiatek in the final after the Pole was beaten by China’s Zheng Qinwen.

“When I saw that Iga lost, I was like: ‘Oh, I better win my match because it would have been tough (Saturday)‘.

“But, Qinwen is playing great tennis. It’s going to be a tough match.”