From Martina to Muchova: All-Czech final at Wimbledon continues the country’s tennis legacy

LONDON (AP) — Linda Noskova didn’t pay much attention to tennis as a kid until she watched Czech compatriot Petra Kvitova win the Wimbledon final in 2011.

“That is maybe one of the first moments when I realized that such a sport as tennis exists,” the 21-year-old Noskova said after playing on Centre Court at the All England Club for the first time on Thursday.

More Czech kids will surely be watching on Saturday when the country is guaranteed to add another champion to its rich legacy at Wimbledon.

Noskova beat Marta Kostyuk in straight sets to set up an all-Czech women’s final against Karolina Muchova, who earlier outlasted Coco Gauff in a dramatic third-set tiebreaker.

It means there will be a third Czech female champion at the All England Club in four years, after Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.

“It’s a tradition at this point,” Noskova said.

The country’s lineage goes back much further, of course. When Krejcikova won her title, she thanked 1998 Wimbledon winner Jana Novotna for having pushed her into professional tennis.

And Novotna, like all the Czech players after her, was inspired by the greatest Wimbledon champion of all — Martina Navratilova, who won a record nine singles titles at the All England Club.

“We have a great history of Czech tennis,” Muchova said. “When I was younger, looking up to the girls who were like maybe five years older than I was, you can just see them doing so well. So it gave me the belief that I can as well do it. That’s how it worked for me.”

Navratilova was at Centre Court on Thursday as well, doing TV commentary for the BBC. She is likely to watch Saturday’s final from the Royal Box, where she is a regular visitor.

“I can relax and just enjoy, because we’re going to have another Czech winner,” Navratilova said. “Czech women are certainly pulling their weight at Wimbledon, I tell you. This is crazy good.”

The semifinal matches marked the first time playing on Centre Court for both Muchova and Noskova. They came to the venue together earlier to warm up and just get used to the grandeur of it all.

The two are good friends, having played doubles together at the Paris Olympics in 2024, but will have to put that aside on Saturday.

It will be the ninth-ranked Muchova’s second Grand Slam final after losing to Iga Swiatek in the 2023 French Open championship match.

The 21-year-old Noskova had never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon, having come that far last year, and her best Grand Slam result was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2024 Australian Open.

Asked to explain the continued Czech excellence at Wimbledon, Noskova had a few theories.

“We are very creative,” she said, “so grass allows us to kind of use any side of tennis. If it’s serve and volley back in the old days, if it’s slices and volleys in this new era. I would say that we have all these sides that we can use, that grass allows us, and it’s showing.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis