Centre Court has seen plenty of heavy hitters, but in the Wimbledon final of 2023 it was Marketa Vondrousova’s softer hands that changed the match. The Czech left-hander, unseeded at the tournament, beat Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 and became the first unseeded woman to win the Wimbledon singles title in the Open Era.
That result fit the pattern of her career and also defied it. Vondrousova had been marked out early as one of the most gifted juniors in Czech tennis, reached a Grand Slam final as a teenager, won Olympic silver, and then kept running into injuries that broke her momentum. Her story has never been a simple climb.
Born on June 28, 1999, in Sokolov, she grew up in a family where sport was part of daily life. Her father, David Vondrous, introduced her to tennis and coached her in her earliest years. Her mother, Jindriska Anderlova, played volleyball at a high level, and athletic talent ran further through the family as well. As a child, Vondrousova tried several sports before tennis took over.
From Sokolov to the top junior ranks
The move from promising child to serious prospect came quickly. Before she was 12, she had also worked with coach Jan Fuchs, and in her mid-teens she moved to Prague to train in a stronger environment. That shift mattered. It put her in the middle of the Czech system that has produced so many accomplished women’s players, but her game never looked quite like anyone else’s.
As a junior, she built a strong record in singles and doubles. She reached the girls’ doubles final at the French Open in 2014, then won the Australian Open girls’ doubles title and the French Open girls’ doubles title in 2015. She was also part of the Czech team that won the Junior Fed Cup in 2015. Vondrousova rose to junior world No. 1, a sign not just of talent but of range: she was effective on different surfaces and comfortable in different match patterns.
Even then, the essentials of the Marketa Vondrousova tennis game were already visible. She was left-handed, used a two-handed backhand, returned well, and preferred to upset rhythm rather than simply trade pace. The drop shot, which would later become one of her signatures on the WTA Tour, was not a late addition. It was there from the start.
A fast start on the WTA Tour
Vondrousova made her debut on the ITF circuit in 2014 and stepped into WTA main-draw level in 2016, including an appearance at the Prague Open. That season also brought an early setback when an elbow injury interrupted her progress.
The real breakthrough arrived in 2017. At Biel/Bienne, she won her first WTA singles title, beating Anett Kontaveit in the final. She was still only 17, and for the rest of the tour it was a clear warning: this was not just a talented junior passing through. Her game already worked against established professionals because it asked awkward questions. Opponents could not settle into a clean rhythm against her angles, changes of pace and disguised touch.
That title remains an important marker in any Marketa Vondrousova biography because it showed how unusual her route would be. Many young players break through with raw power. She did it with feel, timing and tactical variety.
Roland Garros at 19
Two years later came the run that changed her status. At the 2019 French Open, Vondrousova reached her first Grand Slam final without dropping a set. She beat Wang Qiang, Anastasia Potapova, Carla Suárez Navarro, Petra Martić, Johanna Konta and Amanda Anisimova before losing the final to Ashleigh Barty, 6-1, 6-3.
The result made her the first teenage woman to reach the Roland Garros final since Ana Ivanovic in 2007. It also made her the first Czech woman to play the French Open final since Hana Mandlíková in 1981.
Paris suited her perfectly. On clay, her left-handed patterns had more time to bend rallies in her favor, and her drop shot became even more damaging. But the run was about more than surface preference. It showed that her game held up over seven matches at a major, under pressure, against very different opponents.
The afterglow did not last uninterrupted. Later that year she underwent left wrist surgery, which cut into her season and slowed the momentum she had built in Paris. That became a familiar theme in her career: a major result followed by time away.
Olympic silver in Tokyo
Her next big stage came at the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021. Vondrousova put together another excellent run and reached the gold-medal match, beating Kiki Bertens, Naomi Osaka, Paula Badosa and Elina Svitolina along the way. In the final she lost to Belinda Bencic, taking the silver medal.
Olympic tennis sits slightly apart from the regular tour, but the result mattered. It added another major line to her record and underlined her ability to peak in big events. By then, she was no longer just the former junior No. 1 or the French Open runner-up. She was one of the most dangerous disruptors in the women’s game when healthy.
Wimbledon and the biggest title of her career
The summer of 2023 brought the defining title. Vondrousova arrived at Wimbledon unseeded and with little recent grass-court pedigree compared with some of the favorites. She left as champion.
Her path to the title included wins over Peyton Stearns, Veronika Kudermetova, Donna Vekić, Marie Bouzková, Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina and Ons Jabeur. The final against Jabeur was tense rather than spectacular, and Vondrousova handled it well. She defended stubbornly, redirected pace, and used her variety at the right moments. Jabeur often looked as if she was trying to hit through fog.
With that victory, Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon singles. It was her first Grand Slam title, and it lifted her to a career-high ranking of world No. 6 in September 2023.
She also qualified for the WTA Finals that season, another sign of how much ground she had covered. For a player whose career had already been interrupted more than once, the Wimbledon title felt less like a sudden arrival than a delayed reward.
Injuries that kept breaking the rhythm
The challenge with Vondrousova was rarely proving her level. It was staying on court long enough to build from one big result to the next.
An elbow problem disrupted part of 2016. Wrist trouble led to surgery in 2019. Later, more injuries again interrupted her schedule. That stop-start pattern shaped her ranking history and explains why her résumé can look both rich and incomplete at the same time. When fit, she could trouble almost anyone. Staying fit was the harder part.
How she plays
Vondrousova has never been defined by outright power. Her tennis is built on variation, anticipation and problem-solving. As a left-hander, she naturally creates different serving and rally patterns, especially into the ad court. Her return is one of the strongest parts of her game, and she is comfortable absorbing pace before changing direction.
The drop shot is central, not decorative. She uses it to drag opponents forward, break up baseline exchanges and make them doubt their court position. On clay that can be suffocating. On grass, where many players want short, direct points, it can be even more unsettling because it interrupts instinct.
That is why a Marketa Vondrousova match often looks different from a standard power exchange on the WTA Tour. She wins with touch as much as force, and with timing as much as speed.
Life away from the court
Off court, Vondrousova has generally kept a lower profile than some of her peers, though her personal life has at times drawn attention. She married Štěpán Šimek in 2022. Multiple published reports later stated that the couple divorced in 2024. Later that year, her relationship with Czech tennis player Andrew Paulson was publicly reported and then confirmed in coverage around the Czech tennis scene.
Some lighter details also followed her during the Wimbledon run, including the widely shared story that Šimek was caring for their cat, Frankie, while she was competing in London.
Her endorsements have included Yonex for rackets and J.Lindeberg for apparel. Reported estimates of net worth and annual earnings vary by source, so those figures are best treated as approximate rather than fixed. Career prize money, by contrast, is an official stat and has placed her among the more successful Czech players of her generation.
A career of peaks, pauses and one unforgettable fortnight
There are tidier careers than this one. Vondrousova’s has been marked by bursts of brilliance, long absences, and a style that never quite fits the standard template of modern women’s tennis.
But the important points are clear. She was a top junior, a WTA title winner at 17, a French Open finalist at 19, an Olympic silver medalist, and a Wimbledon champion. Few players have built that kind of record while doing it in such a distinctive way.
FAQ
How many Grand Slam singles titles has Marketa Vondrousova won?
One. She won Wimbledon in 2023.
Was Marketa Vondrousova the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon?
Yes. She became the first unseeded women’s singles champion at Wimbledon in the Open Era in 2023.
What is Marketa Vondrousova’s playing style?
She is a left-handed player with a two-handed backhand, known for her return, changes of pace, angles and especially her drop shot.
Did Marketa Vondrousova win an Olympic medal?
Yes. She won silver in women’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
What was Marketa Vondrousova’s highest ranking?
Her career-high singles ranking was world No. 6.
Is Marketa Vondrousova married?
Published reports have stated that her marriage to Štěpán Šimek ended in divorce in 2024.
