Marketa Vondrousova learned to live without a Grand Slam title. Can the Wimbledon champ learn to live with one?

Stress-free tennis took the perennially snake-bitten Czech star to victory at the All England Club this summer; how will she handle the mantle of major champion?

CINCINNATI, Ohio—“I actually felt before Wimbledon like, ‘Maybe I’m not going to win a Grand Slam, and I’m going to have a good career without one, and then this happened!”

Four years removed from her first major final, Marketa Vondrousova thought she was making peace from broken pieces, resolving to set aside frustrations stemming from a snake-bitten time on tour and shed the self-imposed pressure that bottled her breezy lefty game through 11 subsequent Grand Slam appearances.

“I don’t like to have pressure on me from me,” she explained during her Western & Southern Open Media Day press conference. “I expect it from other people, but from me, I don’t want to have it. I think I've learned to play without it in my head.”

Her stress-free approach paid as just as the clock struck 12 and scored her a shocking run to the Wimbledon title, a result that Vondrousova still finds exceedingly funny.

“I didn’t play good on grass before so I felt like, ‘Let’s try and I’ll play some matches without stress because I don’t care about grass!’” she laughed. “But then I was winning.”

I’m not the underdog anymore, so I have to get used to that. Marketa Vondrousova

Barring a hiccup in the second set of her semifinal against Elina Svitolina, Vondrousova struck a laidback contrast to the likes of Jessica Pegula, who was a point from leading the Czech 5-1 in the final set of their quarterfinal, and Ons Jabeur, who was a visible wreck for most of their 80-minute final.

“When I broke her for 5-4 in the second set, I was like ‘Oh my god, I’m going to serve for the whole tournament!’ That was the first moment I thought I could win.”

But don’t confuse Vondrousova’s disbelief in the face of her surreal turn of fortune with a lack of confidence in her abilities. Among the increasingly varied game styles that currently make up the WTA ranks, the southpaw from Sokolov is one of only two left-handers in the Top 15—the other being fellow Czech Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Accented by an array of tattoos and an ever-present smirk, she can hit practically every shot in tennis, combining spins, slice, and off-pace angles to flummox opponents.

Ostensibly now a threat on every surface, the Olympic silver medalist might consider the North American summer hard courts her final frontier, as last week’s Omnium Banque Nationale marked the first time she had ever won a match in either Canada or Cincinnati, and she has the added pressure of a career-high No. 10 ranking attached to her name.

“I’m not the underdog anymore,” the 24-year-old mused ahead of her Western & Southern Open clash with countrywoman Katerina Siniakova, “so I have to get used to that.”

Where new Grand Slam champions have been prone to post-victory slumps, Vondrousova can take plenty of positives from up north to Cincinnati, having posted a strong result over resurgent Caroline Wozniacki before bowing out to Coco Gauff in a rain-affected third round.

“I felt like, for me, it was a good tournament to win back-to-back matches, and it was very important for me to have that. It’s not easy to come back to tournament after a Grand Slam win, so I was really grateful that I did win two matches and the match with Coco was very tough.”

Vondrousova is certainly used to disappointment following success: it was less than a month after her first major final that she was forced off tour for the remainder of 2019, and was only just making her return to action when the global pandemic shut down the tour through the following summer.

“I expected to play good again and beat everyone. That didn’t happen,” she smiled, having fallen outside the Top 100 twice in the last two seasons.

I don’t like to have pressure on me from me. I expect it from other people, but from me, I don’t want to have it. I think I've learned to play without it in my head. Marketa Vondrousova

“When we all came back, I felt like I was putting so much pressure on me, and everyone around me was expecting me to win. They were expecting a final again and it wasn’t happening.”

A second surgery took her off tour from April to October of last year; her trip to London in 2022 was only as a tourist. Still, the previous experience taught Vondrousova to take things easy as she worked her way back on tour last fall.

“I felt like the comeback was better because I didn’t expect much from me. I didn’t know how I was going to do, or if I would be on that level again.”

Rather than return to her best, she has instead found a new plateau, but can she remain as easygoing now that she’s the one to watch?

“I feel like everyone is going to want to beat you,” she said. “It’s really difficult because everyone is going to play good against you; they have nothing to lose, so you have to stay focused from the first point. Mentally, I have to stay prepared for some very tough matches against everyone.”

Vondrousova once told herself she would be happy without winning a Grand Slam. Given how well that worked out, she should start telling herself she won’t win two.