Vondrousova ready to face more motivated rivals after Wimbledon win

The 24-year-old Czech said she surprised herself by overcoming the two weeks of pressure to take the Wimbledon title against Ons Jabeur in Saturday’s final, the first time an unseeded player won the grasscourt major.

Wimbledon champion Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova in Prague. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

New Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova is getting ready for more motivated rivals challenging her after her first Grand Slam win.

The 24-year-old Czech said she surprised herself by overcoming the two weeks of pressure to take the Wimbledon title against Ons Jabeur in Saturday’s final, the first time an unseeded player won the grasscourt major.

The win shot Vondrousova 32 places up to 10th in new WTA rankings, becoming a prized target for rivals.

“This is a good problem to have. Of course it will be unpleasant that all will try to prove themselves and will play well, but that is part of the deal,” she said. “I won a Grand Slam so I have to count on that and learn to work with it.”

Vondrousova will take a few days off, and visit her western Czech birth town of Sokolov before restarting training and flying to a tournament in Montreal in early August.

“(I learned) that I can play on grass,” Vondrousova, laughing, told reporters in Prague when asked what she took away from the tournament.

“That I managed to pull through in my head, that was great. The two weeks are demanding, there are so many matches and it is great pressure from the latter rounds on... I surprised myself how I managed to finish.”

Vondrousova also explained why she wore sneakers with a black dress to the champions ball, which raised some eyebrows.

“I had a dress all the way to the ground so I knew it would not be visible,” she said. “I was told to pull the dress up for the photo.”

She said she was not sure about wearing heels after an ankle injury early in the tournament - but also conceded her dislike for dress shoes.

“I didn’t want to because of the ankle, and I do not like wearing them, so I was happy to avoid it,” she said.

Vondrousova, sporting a range of tattoos on her arms, said it was still a plan to get a matching tattoo with her coach to celebrate the Grand Slam but did not confirm it would be a strawberry as reported earlier. “We don’t know yet what’s it going to be.”