The last time two women from the same country reached the Wimbledon singles final was in 2009.
It should come as no surprise that it was Serena Williams who played the Venus sisters for the Venus Rosewater Plate.
That day, Serena came through in straight sets to end the reign of two-time defending champion Venus. The American won her third Wimbledon title and 11th major title overall.
In Saturday’s women’s draw, Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova put up another surprising showdown in the all-Czech Republic final.
Not since 2016 has a woman successfully defended her title. Yes, you guessed it, Serena, greetings once again.
Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus in the 2009 Wimbledon women’s singles final.
Eight other winners have since placed their hands on the trophy. However, only 2022 winner Elena Rybakina got a brief glimpse of her defending her title before her 2023 quarter-final loss.
Perhaps Ashleigh Barty might have had the best chance of winning back-to-back titles had the 2021 champion not announced her shock retirement as world number one at the age of 25 next March.
This year too, defending champion Iga Swiatek was considered one of the title contenders given world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka’s record-low record at Wimbledon.
But she suffered defeat midway through Saturday, losing to No. 29 seed Alexandra Eala in straight sets on Center Court, while Rybakina also lost to No. 1 Court just minutes after heading to an early exit to No. 25 seed Elise Mertens.
And the next day, the all-women’s draw restarted as Sabalenka suffered a straight-set loss to an inspired Naomi Osaka.
When Barbora Krejcíkova was eliminated in the fourth round by finalist Muchova on Saturday, there were no past Wimbledon champions remaining in the draw.
Muchova prepares for second major final
As a new champion prepares to be anointed, Muchova at least has the important final experience to call for in a showdown.
Muchova, ranked 43rd in the world three years ago, defeated Sabalenka in the semifinals of the French Open to face defending champion Sviatek. Sviatek strengthened his dominance of the clay-court major by winning his third Roland Garros title in four years.
Aside from that one major final, Muchova has reached two semifinals at the US Open, but her run at Wimbledon this year has been outstanding considering her previous record on turf in south-west London.
The 29-year-old has not advanced past the first round of the championship in four years, but heads into this week with some pedigree on grass, having won the Bad Homburg title in a tune-up event. Even though Osaka got injured and lost the set, falling behind 1-0.
On the other side of the court on Saturday, 21-year-old Noskova became the youngest Wimbledon women’s finalist since Eugenie Bouchard in 2014.
Noskova will need no reminder that it was Petra Kvitova who blasted the 20-year-old on Center Court that day to win 6-3 6-0.
But Czech women are in love with the Wimbledon grass courts.
Linda Noskova is the youngest Wimbledon finalist since 2014.
What is the secret to Czech women’s Wimbledon success?
On Saturday there will be a third Czech winner in the women’s draw in the last four years. In a country of 10.9 million people, they are punching above their weight in the rankings, with eight Czech women currently ranked in the WTA top 50.
After her semifinal win over Marta Kostyuk, Noskova was asked why her country has had so much success on grass.
“I think it’s a tradition at this point, but we all grew up in the Czech Republic with the same style of game, tennis, etc., but in some ways it’s very different.
“We are very creative. The grass allows us to use all aspects of tennis – serve and volley in the old days, slice and volley in the new era. There are all aspects that we can use, the grass allows us and I would say it shows.”
When asked the same question, Muchova said that she gained confidence in her own abilities by watching the success of other Czech athletes.
Karolina Mukova defeated Coco Gauff to reach her first Wimbledon final.
“We have a great history of Czech tennis,” she said. “It’s definitely true that there are too many of us. When I was younger, I looked up to girls who were about five years older than me and I could see them getting along really well.
“It gave me the belief that I could do it. That worked for me.
“It’s good that we come from such a small country and have so many good players.”
One thing is guaranteed on Saturday: There will be more Czech victories to cheer for. Whether the player can retain his Wimbledon crown is a question that can be left for another day.
