Marketa Vondrousova’s secret weapon in the mental game
Marketa Vondrousova says that she doesn’t put any sort of pressure on herself anymore.
While some players feel they need to have that stressful voice in their head to drive them on, Vondrousova has learned to quiet her mind.
Accepting what will be has helped her unlock the secret to winning at least one Grand Slam.
“I don’t like to have pressure on me from me,” she explained while talking to the press in Cincinnati.
“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.”
She feels that a carefree attitude helped her unlock her best game on grass.
Knowing that she had never done well on grass meant that she felt no real pressure to perform.
“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.”
Vondrousova said she only believed she could win when she was about to serve for the championship against Ons Jabeur.
The Czech Wimbledon champion said: “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.”
Vondrousova was happy to secure a match win on her return to the WTA Tour in Montreal.
She bested Caroline Wozniacki in the Round of 32 at the WTA 1000 event but was outhustled by Coco Gauff in a rain-hit.
“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 only 24-years-old but has already had to beat the comeback trail from injury twice with her first return coming just as the tour shut down as the pandemic hit.
Her first experience taught her that expectations can be your downfall.
“I expected to play good again and beat everyone. That didn’t happen,” she said.
“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.”
Vondrousova believes that she owes her great results and Wimbledon championship to taking it easy on herself.
“I felt like the comeback was better because I didn’t expect much from me,” Vondrousova remarked.
“I didn’t know how I was going to do, or if I would be on that level again.”
She admits that she will have to prepare for life with a target on her back as other players try to claim her as a prized scalp.
“I feel like everyone is going to want to beat you,” Vondrousova 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.”
READ MORE: Six things you might not know about Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova
