Six things you might not know about Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova

James Richardson 17 Jul 2023 5:37 PM

A delighted Marketa Vondrousova after a match

Marketa Vondrousova bested Ons Jabeur on Saturday, to become the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon women’s title in the Open era.

She is also the lowest-ranked player to win the title since the inception of the computer ranking.

Here we look at six fun facts about the new champion.

She owns over 200 pairs of trainers

Vondrousova reportedly has something of an obsession with athletic footwear which comes as little surprise for somebody who has always been very active.

Her father confirmed that she has been into sports for some time, and she started playing tennis with one of his old wooden rackets.

“From the beginning, it was my vision that Markéta could play sports at the highest level. It was clear that she was up to it,” the senior Vondrousova said.

Vondrousova married her high school sweetheart

Vondrousova married Stepan Simek, an IT project manager, in Prague in July 2022. Before getting married, the couple dated for seven years after meeting when they were young.

“Marketa always said she was in love with me since she was 13, but I allegedly only noticed her when she was 15,” said Simek.

“We were at a training camp, we ran together, and the suffering on the track brought us together.”

He is the tall and handsome type, but Marketa doesn’t mind looking up now and then.

“I don’t mind, except that my neck hurts when I want to kiss him or when I’m talking to him and have to look up,” she once said.

Her name isn’t legally Vondrousova anymore

Marketa Vondrousova isn’t the Wimbledon champion’s name anymore as she has legally changed it to her married name, which by Czech tradition is Simkova the feminine form of her husband’s name Simek.

“I didn’t want to give it up, because it was my dad who led me to play tennis. And everyone knows me under this name,” she said of her decision to keep her maiden name in tennis.

She uses the name Vondrousova in tennis to honour her father who gave her career so much early support.

She has many tattoos

You probably noted this one if you know anything at all about Vondrousova.

She got her first tattoo at the age of 16 and has deep ties to her ink.

“I actually got the first one when I was 16 for my birthday and I don’t know, I felt like I wanted more,” she said.

Among the ink is her lucky number 13, the Olympic rings to commemorate her silver medal in Tokyo and the phrase ‘No rain, no flowers’.

“For me, it’s art. I appreciate the people that do this,” she said after defeating Elina Svitolina in Thursday’s semi-final.

Maky to her friends

Those close to her call her Maky, short for her name Marketa. Incidentally her name day is also related to her lucky number as in the Czech Republic it falls on 13 July also the day that she beat Svitolina to reach the Wimbledon final.