Markéta Vondroušová (; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. She has been ranked world No. 6 in singles by the
WTA. Vondroušová has won two singles titles, including the
2023 Wimbledon Championships
The 2023 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom.
Tournament
The tournament was played on grass courts, wi ...
, the first unseeded player to win the
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
women's singles title.
She was also runner-up at the
2019 French Open
The 2019 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 26 May to 9 June, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and ...
as a teenager, and claimed a silver medal at the
2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Vondroušová is a former junior world No. 1, having won two major doubles titles. She had a quick breakthrough on the
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
, winning the
2017 Ladies Open Biel Bienne at age 17 in just her second career WTA Tour singles event. This helped her reach the top 100 of the
WTA rankings before turning 18. Vondroušová struggled with injuries early in her career, most notably missing the second half of the 2019 season shortly after her French Open final. Her signature shot is the
drop shot
A drop shot is a shot in some racket sports in which the ball (or birdie) is hit relatively softly, sometimes with topspin or backspin, so that it lands just over and close to the net. A well-placed and well-timed drop shot will make it difficult ...
. She is one of the best returners on tour, having led the tour in percentage of return games won and percentage of return points won in 2019 among all players with at least ten matches.
Early life and background
Markéta Vondroušová was born on 28 June 1999 to David Vondrouš and Jindřiška Anderlová in
Sokolov, a small town in the north-west of the Czech Republic. Her father introduced her to tennis at the age of four, having played the sport recreationally.
Her mother played volleyball for SK Slavia Prague in the top-flight Extraliga.
Her parents divorced when Vondroušová was three, but they both stayed in her life and supported her growth as a tennis player.
When Vondroušová was young, she tried a variety of sports, including skiing, football, table tennis, and
floorball
Floorball (also known by other names) is a sport played with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. It is played indoors with sticks and a hollow plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three periods. The sport of bandy also playe ...
, excelling in them all. She began to focus on tennis early, entering a national mini-tennis tournament on
Štvanice
Štvanice is an island on the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. It is located in the Prague district of Holešovice. At the end of the 17th century, a wooden arena was built there. Until 1816, the island was used for dog hunts involving v ...
island in Prague in 2006, in which she finished third and qualified for an international tournament in
Umag
Umag (; ; ) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia.
Its patron saint is Peregrine (martyr), St. Peregrine.
Geography
It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia.
Demographics
According to the ...
in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. At this tournament, she lost in the first round, but won the consolation bracket as an eight-year-old competing against mostly nine-year-old players.
[
After the tournament on Štvanice, it was arranged for Vondroušová to go back to train there, at the I. ČLTK Prague.][ During this time, she trained for five days a week, on two of which she travelled from her hometown to Prague to train on Štvanice and spend the night there. She had another international success at age 12, when she won the Nike Junior Tour International Masters in the United States, which was regarded as an unofficial 12-and-under world championship.] At age 15, she moved to Prague to train more regularly there.[
Vondroušová has a strong athletic background on her mother's side. Her grandfather, František Frk, was the Czechoslovak national ]pentathlon
A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...
champion in 1935.[
]
Career
Juniors
Vondroušová is a former world No. 1 junior. She made her debut on the ITF Junior Circuit at the age of 13 and won both the singles and doubles events at her first tournament, the Grade 5 San Michel International Tournament in Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
in April 2013. Later in the year, she won a higher-level Grade 4 singles event in Poland as well as a separate Grade 2 doubles event in the Czech Republic. Vondroušová made her Grade 1 debut with a singles semifinal in January 2014, which she followed with a second round loss in her debut at the highest-level Grade A tournaments in May. She entered her first junior Grand Slam events in May and had immediate success, reaching the semifinals at both the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
and Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
. In both tournaments, she lost to the eventual champions Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, achieved in October 2022. Kasatkina ha ...
and Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 5 in singles and No. 4 in doubles by the WTA. Ostapenko has won nine WTA Tour-level singles and eleven doubles tit ...
respectively. Vondroušová fared better in doubles at the French Open, finishing runner-up to the Romanian team of Ioana Ducu
Ioana Ducu (born 18 April 1996) is a former Romanian tennis player. In her career, she won one doubles title on the ITF Women's Circuit and reached best WTA rankings of 830 in singles and 736 in doubles.
In June 2014, together with fellow Roman ...
and Ioana Loredana Roșca alongside American CiCi Bellis in a match tiebreak. Despite losing her opening singles matches at her last two Grade A tournaments of the year, the US Open and the Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...
, Vondroušová ended 2014 by winning the Orange Bowl doubles title with Bellis.
Vondroušová continued to have success in doubles in 2015, most notably winning her only two junior Grand Slam titles and three Grade-A doubles events in total. Although she lost her opening-round match at the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she won the doubles title with compatriot Miriam Kolodziejová without dropping a set. Vondroušová did not play another junior event until late May, instead opting to play events on the professional circuit. In her return, she won both the singles and doubles events at the Grade-A Trofeo Bonfiglio
The Trofeo Bonfiglio ("Bonfiglio Trophy"), also known as the Campionati Internazionali d'Italia Juniores ("International Junior Championships of Italy"), is a prestigious junior tennis tournament held on outdoor red clay courts in Milan, Italy. It ...
, again partnering with Kolodziejová. She defeated Charlotte Robillard-Millette in the singles final for her only career Grade-A singles title. With these titles, Vondroušová became the No. 1 ranked junior in the world for the first time. While she lost in the semifinals at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
for the second consecutive year, she won a second Grand Slam doubles title with Kolodziejová, again without losing a set. The semifinal was her best Grand Slam singles result of the year. Vondroušová and Kolodziejová then won a fourth consecutive title at the Grade-1 Junior International Roehampton before their 28-match win streak came to an end in the Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
semifinals, where they were defeated by the Hungarian team of Dalma Gálfi
Dalma Rebeka Gálfi (born 13 August 1998) is a Hungarian professional tennis player.
On 12 September 2022, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 79. On 19 September 2022, she peaked at No. 126 in the WTA doubles rankings. Gál ...
and Fanny Stollár
Fanny Stollár (born 12 November 1998) is a Hungarian tennis player.
On 19 May 2025, she peaked at world No. 50 in the WTA doubles rankings. On 19 November 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of No. 114. Stollár has won four doubles tit ...
.
Toward the end of the 2015 season, Vondroušová represented the Czech Republic at the Junior Fed Cup with Monika Kilnarová and Anna Slováková. She won all eight of her rubbers and led the Czech team to the title with a 2–1 victory over US team of Kayla Day and Claire Liu
Claire Liu (born May 25, 2000) is an American professional tennis player. On 30 January 2023, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 52.
Liu has won one singles title and one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well ...
, in the final. Vondroušová only played one junior tournament in 2016, losing in the third round in singles at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
.
2014–2017: WTA Tour debut and maiden title at 17, top 100 and major debuts
Vondroušová began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players.
History
It serves as a developmenta ...
in May 2014 at the age of 14 and qualified for her first main draw later in the year. She reached her first singles final at the lowest $10k level in March 2015 at Sharm El Sheikh, where she won the doubles event for her first professional title. Her first and second singles title came in May and June respectively. Vondroušová made her WTA Tour main-draw doubles debut in April 2015 at the Prague Open In tennis, Prague Open may refer to:
* Prague Open (1987–1999)
* 1992 HTC Prague Open, HTC Prague Open, held only in 1992
* BVV Prague Open (1993–1994)
* I.ČLTK Prague Open, Advantage Cars Prague Open
* WTA Prague Open, Livesport Prague Open
* ...
, losing her opening match alongside Kateřina Vaňková
Kateřina Vaňková (born 30 December 1989) is a Czech former professional tennis player.
She has won 15 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 20 April 2015, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 218. On 18 Apr ...
. She made her WTA Tour singles debut at the same tournament a year later, winning her first career match against Océane Dodin
Océane Dodin (, born 24 October 1996) is a French professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 46 and in doubles of No. 375 in 2017, by the WTA. Dodin has won one WTA Tour singles title at the 2016 Coupe B ...
before losing to eventual runner-up Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
. Vondroušová did not enter any more events after May 2016 due to a left elbow injury.
Vondroušová returned to the tour in January 2017 and won her first two ITF singles events back followed by two more runner-up finishes in her third and fifth events. This success helped her break into the top 300 for the first time by the end of February.
At the Ladies Open Biel Bienne in April, Vondroušová had her first big breakthrough. She won her maiden WTA Tour title at age 17 in just her second career WTA singles event. After entering the main draw through qualifying, she upset top seed and world No. 18 Barbora Strýcová
Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
She won two Gra ...
in the semifinals. She then defeated Anett Kontaveit
Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022 to become the highes ...
in the final. With the title, she rose to No. 117 in the world. Having started the tournament at No. 233, she was also the lowest-ranked finalist on the WTA Tour since Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 117 weeks, i ...
in 2010. Vondroušová then won a $100k title at the Slovak Open
The Slovak Open is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Indoor courts, indoor hardcourts. It is an ATP Challenger Tour 125, ATP Challenger 125 and an ITF Women's Circuit event. It was part of the Tretorn SERIE+ on the ATP Cha ...
back on the ITF Circuit the next month to enter the top 100 for the first time. This also made her the youngest player in the top 100 at the time.
Vondroušová made her Grand Slam championship debut at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
. She made it through qualifying and defeated Amandine Hesse in her first main draw match before losing to Daria Kasatkina. Vondroušová was directly accepted into the main draw at Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, losing her opening match. Later that month, she won another ITF title, the $80k Prague Open In tennis, Prague Open may refer to:
* Prague Open (1987–1999)
* 1992 HTC Prague Open, HTC Prague Open, held only in 1992
* BVV Prague Open (1993–1994)
* I.ČLTK Prague Open, Advantage Cars Prague Open
* WTA Prague Open, Livesport Prague Open
* ...
, to rise to No. 68 in the world.[ Nonetheless, she again lost her opening match at the US Open, despite pushing No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova to a third-set tiebreak. She ended her season after September.]
2018–2019: Teenage French Open finalist, world No. 14
Vondroušová had a slow start into the 2018 season, not winning multiple main-draw matches at any of her first five tournaments of the year, including the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
.[ Nonetheless, she continued to rise in the rankings to as high as No. 50, after reaching the fourth round at the Indian Wells Open, where she defeated No. 11 ]Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta (born 17 May 1991) is a British-Australian former professional tennis player. Konta won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, along with eleven titles in singles and four in doubles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She was British No. ...
in the second round.[ Once Vondroušová did not defend the ranking points from her first title during the ]clay court
A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other construction aggregate, aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles ...
season, her ranking began to drop. She won just two matches on clay and lost her opening round match at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, causing her to fall outside the top 100.[ She also lost in the opening round at ]Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
.[ Two weeks later, Vondroušová reached her first semifinal of the year at the Ladies Championship Gstaad. Nonetheless, she remained outside the top 100 by late August. As the last direct acceptance into the main draw of the US Open, Vondroušová produced her best result of the season. She upset No. 13 ]Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings#Current rankings, singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest-ranked Dutch female playe ...
in the third round in a third-set tiebreak, before losing in her next match. This result brought her back to No. 71 in the world. For the second consecutive year, she finished at No. 67, after ending her season in September.[
Vondroušová had a strong start into the 2019 season. Although she lost in the second round of the ]Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
in singles, she reached semifinals in doubles with Barbora Strýcová
Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
She won two Gra ...
where they lost a tight match to Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai
Zhang Shuai ( zh , s = 张帅 , p = Zhāng Shuài ; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She has a career-high doubles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 2, achieved in July 2022 and a singles ranking of No. 22 re ...
. Vondroušová then reached the quarterfinals or better at each of her next six singles events. This streak included three finals appearances and began with a runner-up finish to defending champion Alison Van Uytvanck
Alison Van Uytvanck (; born 26 March 1994) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. In August 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 37.
Van Uytvanck has won five singles and two doubles WTA Tour titles and three Chall ...
at the Hungarian Ladies Open. At the Indian Wells Open, Vondroušová upset No. 2 Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 64 w ...
, the highest-ranked opponent she ever defeated. With quarterfinal appearances there and at the Miami Open, she returned to the top 50 for the first time in a little over a year.[ Vondroušová reached another final at the İstanbul Cup where she lost to No. 40, ]Petra Martić
Petra Martić (; born 19 January 1991) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, singles ranking of world No. 14, achieved in January 2020. Martić has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and o ...
. She then defeated Halep again during her quarterfinal run at the Italian Open.
Vondroušová's best performance of the season came at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, where she made it to the final without dropping a set. As an unseeded player, she defeated four seeded players including No. 12, Anastasija Sevastova
Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching a Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. Sevastova has won four sin ...
in the fourth round and No. 26, Johanna Konta in the semifinals.[ She also defeated No. 31 Martić in the quarterfinals for the first time, after losing all four of their previous meetings. In the final, she lost to No. 8, ]Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh Jacinta Barty (born 24 April 1996) is an Australian former professional tennis player and cricketer. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
, only winning four games. Nonetheless, she became the first teenager to contest the French Open final since Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger (name at birth, née Ivanovic; born 6 November 1987) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tenn ...
in 2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
and the first to play in any Grand Slam final since Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is an inactive Danish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, hold ...
at the 2009 US Open. She also entered top 20 for the first time.[ Despite this success, she lost in the opening round at ]Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
to Madison Brengle, her last match of the year. After missing the next few months due to a left wrist injury suffered during that match, Vondroušová had surgery in September and stayed out for the rest of the season. She reached a peak ranking of No. 14 in the world during the season, and finished the year at No. 16.[
]
2021: WTA 1000 doubles debut & first final, Olympic silver medallist
On her debut at the WTA 1000-level in doubles at the Italian Open, Vondroušová and partner Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. Her best singles ranking is world No. 10.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam ...
reached the final, defeating second-seeded duo of Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles by the Wome ...
and Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is the current List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. She also has a best singles WTA rankings, ranking of No. 27 by the W ...
in the quarterfinals and wildcard pair Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed a career Grand Slam (tennis)#Golden Slam, Golden Slam in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former ...
and Irina-Camelia Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA ranking, WTA singles ranking of world No. 22 , in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. She is ...
in the semifinals. They lost their final to the alternate pair and WTA 1000-level first time winners, Giuliana Olmos
Giuliana Marion Olmos Dick (born 4 March 1993) is an Austrian-born Mexican professional tennis player.
Olmos, a graduate of USC, has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 6, achieved on 10 April 2023. She has won seven doubles titles on the ...
and Sharon Fichman.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Vondroušová beat 16th seed Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings#Current rankings, singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest-ranked Dutch female playe ...
, in the latter's final ever singles match on tour, and Mihaela Buzărnescu
Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian tennis player.
She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 20, achieved on 6 August 2018. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 24, she reached on 22 October 2018. She won one singles tit ...
to reach the third round. Next, she upset second seed and home favourite Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the ...
, beating her in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals. There, she eliminated Paula Badosa (by retirement) to advance to the semifinals, where she scored her second top-10 win in the tournament by beating Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA rankings, WTA. Svitolina has won 18 WTA Tour single ...
to reach the final and guarantee a medal. She lost to Belinda Bencic
Belinda Bencic (; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 4 which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won nine career singles titles, including Tennis at the 2020 ...
in three sets and won the silver medal.
2022: Third Indian Wells fourth round, surgery and end of season
Seeded 30th at Indian Wells, she defeated unseeded Magdalena Fręch and fourth seed Anett Kontaveit to reach the fourth round for the third time at this tournament.
2023: First unseeded Wimbledon champion, world No. 6
Using protected ranking, she reached the third rounds of the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, defeating Alison Riske
Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an inactive American tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014, at the Tianjin Open.
S ...
and second seed Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur (born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking by the WTA of No. 2, achieved on 27 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked African and Arab tennis player in WTA and ATP ranking ...
, and of the Indian Wells, defeating Rebecca Marino and 28th seed Marie Bouzková. In the latter, she went one step further into the round of 16 for the fourth time at this WTA 1000 tournament defeating again fourth seed Ons Jabeur. At the Miami Open, she reached back-to-back WTA 1000 fourth rounds and for the first time since 2021 at this tournament (having skipped the 2022 edition) defeating Tatjana Maria
Tatjana Maria (née Malek; born 8 August 1987) is a German professional tennis player. In January 2024 she reached her career-best singles ranking of world No. 42, and in June 2016, she peaked at No. 54 in the doubles rankings.
She has won four ...
, 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova
Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova (born 24 April 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, achieved on 24 October 2022, and a best WTA doubles ranking of No. 2, reached on 6 June 2022. In ...
, and 17th seed compatriot Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), holding the position for a total of eight weeks, and has been ...
.
At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, she reached the fourth round for the first time at this major defeating Peyton Stearns, 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova and 20th seed Donna Vekić
Donna Vekić (; born 28 June 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 17 on 27 January 2025. Her best performance at a Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major is reachin ...
. With this result, she has reached the fourth round at all major tournaments. In the fourth round, she defeated 32nd seed and fellow Czech Marie Bouzková, reaching the quarterfinals of a major for the first time since the 2019 French Open
The 2019 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 26 May to 9 June, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and ...
. In the quarterfinals, she overcame a 1–4 third-set deficit to beat fourth seed Jessica Pegula for her first Wimbledon semifinal. She became only the third woman in the Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
to defeat four seeds to reach the semifinals at the All England Club along with Zheng Jie (2008) and Barbora Strýcová (2019). She defeated Elina Svitolina, who had received a wildcard into the tournament, in straight sets to progress to her first Wimbledon final and second Grand Slam tournament final overall. On 15 July, she defeated Ons Jabeur in the final, becoming the first unseeded ladies' singles Wimbledon champion in the Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
. Ranked No. 42, she also became the lowest ranked Wimbledon champion in the Open era. On 17 July 2023, she entered the top 10 in the WTA rankings.
Following reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open for the first time, she moved to a new career-high in the top 10, at world No. 6, on 11 September 2023. On 21 December 2023, Vondroušová was named "Sportsperson of the year" at the Czech Republic's 2023 Sportsperson of the Year awards.
2024: French Open quarterfinal, injury lay-off
Competing at the 2024 French Open, she reached the quarterfinals losing to eventual champion Iga Świątek
Iga Natalia Świątek (; born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women’s singles by the Women's Tennis Association, Women’s Tenn ...
. This was her best performance at the French Open since reaching the final in 2019.
At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, Vondroušová was upset in the first round by world No. 83, Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro. This loss marked the second time in the Open era that the reigning Wimbledon women's singles champion lost in the first round, after Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...
lost to Lori McNeil
Lori McNeil (born December 18, 1963) is an American tennis coach and former top 10 player. McNeil was a singles semifinalist at the US Open (tennis), US Open in 1987 and The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon in 1994, a women's doubles finalis ...
in 1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
. It was also the first time that a reigning champion of any major lost in the first round since Emma Raducanu at the 2022 US Open.
On 22 July, Vondroušová announced her withdrawal from the Paris Olympics due to a hand injury which also led her to pull out of the US Open.
2025: Return to Tour, more injury woes, out of top 100
Six months after her previous match, Vondroušová returned to the WTA Tour at the Adelaide International, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 11 on 8 November 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has won twelve singles titles ...
in the first round. Having won the opening set, she retired from her second round match against sixth seed Diana Shnaider. Vondroušová subsequently withdrew from the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
.
Vondroušová's next tournament was the Abu Dhabi Open in February, where she entered as a wildcard and defeated Emma Raducanu and fourth seed Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva (, ; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 27 January 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 76 on 17 March 2025.
Puti ...
to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Belinda Bencic.
In March, Vondroušová announced she would miss the "next few months" of the season due a shoulder injury. She was scheduled to return to competitive action at the Italian Open in May but withdrew just before the tournament began having failed to recover sufficiently to play. Two weeks later, Vondroušová made her comeback at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, defeating qualifier Oksana Selekhmeteva and 25th seed Magdalena Fręch to make it through to the third round, where she lost to third seed Jessica Pegula in three sets.
National representation
Billie Jean King Cup
Having won the Junior Fed Cup in 2015, Vondroušova made her senior Billie Jean King Cup debut for the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
in 2017 in their World Group semifinal tie against the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. She lost her first match against CoCo Vandeweghe, but recovered to defeat Lauren Davis
Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour and reached a career-high singles WTA rankings, ran ...
to set up a decisive doubles rubber. The Czech team lost the doubles match and was eliminated. Vondroušova returned to play in the Fed Cup in 2019 for the Czech team's World Group Play-off tie against Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. She won two of the first three singles matches as the Czech Republic swept the tie to keep them in the World Group for 2020.
Olympics
She also represented her country in the 2020 Olympics
The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...
, where she upset home favorite Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the ...
in the third round of competition. She reached the final defeating Paula Badosa (by retirement) in the quarterfinals and fourth seed Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA rankings, WTA. Svitolina has won 18 WTA Tour single ...
in the semifinals, booking Czech Republic's first Olympic singles final. She lost to Belinda Bencic in three sets and was awarded the silver medal.
Playing style
Vondroušová's signature shot is the drop shot
A drop shot is a shot in some racket sports in which the ball (or birdie) is hit relatively softly, sometimes with topspin or backspin, so that it lands just over and close to the net. A well-placed and well-timed drop shot will make it difficult ...
. In general, she has a crafty style of play and employs a wide variety of shots. She developed this type of playing style from working with one of her early coaches Jan Fuchs, who played the same way. Her game often includes long, strategic rallies in which she makes use of her left-handed topspin
In ball sports, topspin or overspin is a property of a ball that rotates forwards as it is moving. Topspin on a ball propelled through the air imparts a downward force that causes the ball to drop, due to its interaction with the air (Magnus ef ...
forehand. Vondroušová has said, "I'm just trying to play aggressive and maybe, like, mix the points, and I just want to serve well and move well."[ Her favorite surface is clay, the surface she grew up playing on. She also likes hard courts because of her playing style.][ Vondroušová excels in her return game more than her service game. In 2019, she led the WTA Tour in first serve points won on return among players with at least ten matches, winning 43.4% of them. She was also first in percentage of return games won and percentage of return points won overall.
]
Coaches
As a junior, Vondroušová was coached by Jan Fuchs starting from before the age of 12. Her stepfather Tomáš Anderle, who is a hockey coach, served as her physical fitness trainer.[ She was later coached by Zdeněk Kubík for three years. By 2015, she replaced Kubík with ]Jiří Hřebec
Jiří Hřebec (born 19 September 1950) is a retired Czech professional tennis player. He won three singles and four doubles titles on the ATP Tour
The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole wor ...
and Dušan Karol. Hřebec is a former Czech professional player who reached a career-high ranking of No. 25 in the world on the ATP Tour. Vondroušová switched coaches from Hřebec to Martin Fassati in April 2018. After a lack of success with Fassati, she switched coaches again a few months later to Jan Hernych, another Czech former ATP professional player. She also later resumed working with Hřebec. Hernych serves as her only traveling coach since Hřebec does not travel to tournaments.
Personal life
In July 2022, she married her longtime partner Štěpán Šimek. They had been engaged since the 2020 Olympics, where Vondroušová won the silver medal. They divorced in 2024. A few months after divorce, Vondroušová confirmed a relationship with Czech tennis player Andrew Paulson
Andrew Meredith Paulson (November 13, 1958 – July 18, 2017) was an American entrepreneur. Born in Champaign, Illinois, he was the son of noted American professor Ronald Paulson.
During his early years he worked with oncology and neurophysiolog ...
.
In 2024, the Czech edition of Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
featured Vondroušová in their ''30 under 30'' list: ''30 of the most talented Czechs under 30 years old''.
Career statistics
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
Grand Slam tournament finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Other significant finals
Olympic Games
Singles: 1 (silver medal)
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vondrousova, Marketa
1999 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Sokolov
Czech female tennis players
Wimbledon champions
Australian Open (tennis) junior champions
French Open junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles
Tennis players at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics
Olympic medalists for the Czech Republic in tennis
Olympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics