It’s not often a Major women’s final eclipses the men’s in terms of entertainment value, especially in the wake of last year’s haunting Wimbledon whitewash in which World No 2 Iga Swiatek double-bagelled Amanda Anisimova, reigniting the argument that WTA players don’t deserve equal pay and should play five sets.
At 6-2 5-2 down to compatriot Linda Noskova in the 2026 final, Czechia’s Karolina Muchova looked to be following in Anisimova’s nervy footsteps and naysayers were garnering more ammunition for the ensuing financial debate.
Further frustrating, prior to the match, I heard John McEnroe confirm in the commentary box — “I still believe Muchova is the best player in the women’s game, despite her incessant injuries and she should win this match … a minority opinion I’ve long concurred with.
Yet here she was, with her back firmly against the wall. She must have read our thoughts, because right on cue a switch flipped and the veteran Czech miraculously put up a fight of note, saving five match points to claw back the second set before finally succumbing to Noskova in the third.
What distinguished this match is the fact Czechia, a small country 36 times smaller than Russia and 13 times less populated than the US, with no grass courts in sight, continues to churn out women champions at Wimbledon.
Five including Noskova and Martina Navratilova, who appropriately watched the proceedings, next to cancer survivor Princess Catherine in the Royal Box.
Regardless of the 6-2 5-7 6-3 outcome in favour of Noskova, the youngest Wimbledon champion post Petra Kvitova in 2011, Czechia and her grass court production line is the overall winner
Moreover this was the first time there has been a same nationality final face off at the championships since American Serena Williams beat her sister Venus in 2009.
What McEnroe no doubt sees in Muchova, like her predecessors, is deft touch and an innate net rushing ability. However, apart from a faltering first serve, it was ultimately her mental vulnerability that let the 29-year-old down.
Whereas the younger Noskova served like a Trojan, dispatched the mercurial lobs and drop shots and appeared impervious to just about everything, let alone noisy crowd exhortations, extreme heat and high pressure.
Watching this first Czech final, Navratilova, another cancer survivor and 18-year-old defector to America, escaping the Czechoslovakian communist regime — only regaining her Czech citizenship in 2008 — was reminded of how successful “escapes” strengthen the mind, in triggering escape mechanisms, enough of which the more experienced Muchova, ironically, could not conjure up.
Regardless of the 6-2 5-7 6-3 outcome in favour of Noskova, the youngest Wimbledon champion post Petra Kvitova in 2011, Czechia and her grass court production line is the overall winner.
As for the men’s final, this went precisely according to ranking, baseline brutality and pundit predictions. In fact the match was a throwback to the times of big serves and no break points. In as much as Jannik Sinner’s last Grand Slam performance — the French Open — constituted one of the biggest upsets in Major history when he capitulated in round two and Alexander Zverev’s subsequent victory was much touted, neither outcome had any real bearing on this final.
They are two of the biggest servers and hardest hitters in the men’s game yet both lack variety, despite respectively making a determined effort to approach the net more often, hence the prevailing threat of Carlos Alcaraz and the slew of up-and-coming volleyers.
Thus again, the key factor in their Wimbledon face off was who is mentally tougher?
Djokovic doesn’t want more admiration; he wants a 25th Slam title and if Wimbledon presented his best shot at it, then surely the writing is now screaming at him off the wall
One imagines Zverev was feeling more confident, post grabbing that elusive maiden Major, but deep down, he knows he confronted neither Alcaraz, Sinner nor for that matter Novak Djokovic.
Before playing Sinner in this final he’d come up against relative minnows on his side of the draw, including stoic British wild card Arthur Fery, typically overrated in a good run, against shockingly below-par opposition from higher-ranked Grigor Dimitrov and Flavio Cobolli.
Adding to Zverev’s jittery mindset are allegations of abuse, which keep rearing their ugly head, despite his reaching a financial settlement with former girlfriend, Brenda Patel, to shorten legal proceedings in the interest of their child.
Nevertheless, liberal female journalists who don’t subscribe to the innocent until proven guilty precedent will find every opportunity to stir where the spotlight is brightest.
Sinner, on the other hand, has long shaken off any drug ban aftermath and after an audience with the Pope, is considered, contrary to his name, to be the epitome of squeaky clean.
Thus, from the feminist perspective the best man won and from the professional analysis the best player won.
As for Djokovic, his Teflon mind continues to catapult him into the last eight at Majors, phenomenal in itself.
But Djokovic doesn’t want more admiration; he wants a 25th Slam title and if Wimbledon presented his best shot at it, then surely the writing is now screaming at him off the wall.
We need the Serbian to exit stage left and the Spanish No 1 to re-enter stage right. That said, centre court will not be as cutting edge without them.