Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova said Tuesday she was determined “not to push in anywhere” in her bid to avoid the media spotlight after her historic triumph.
The 24-year-old Czech beat Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in straight sets in Saturday’s final to become the first ever unseeded female Wimbledon champion.
“The last few days were pretty tough, it was quite a merry go-round,” she told reporters in Prague.
Vondrousova, who won her first major title at the All-England Club after finishing runner-up in the French Open in 2019 and taking the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said she expected the increased media interest to continue.
“I know it’s part of the game. I’ll just try to stick to my circle of people and not push in anywhere and hopefully I’ll be OK,” she said.
Vondrousova knows that other players will now be looking to measure themselves against her after a win which propelled her from 42nd to 10th in the WTA rankings.
“I think this is a good problem. Everyone will try to show their best against me,” she said.
“I won a Grand Slam title, but I have to take this into account and learn to live with it.”
Vondrousova is planning a trip to her native city of Sokolov in the west of the country and want to rests until the end of the week, also to spare her sore ankle she hurt during the first round at Wimbledon.
“I will have to start training again but I’ll try to avoid publicity as much as I can,” said Vondrousova, who is planning to return to competition at Montreal in August.
‘Control my head’
Looking back at the tournament, Vondrousova said she was still surprised by her achievement.
“It was great that I could control my head so well,” she said.
“The two weeks are really tough, there are so many games, you get all kinds of news as you proceed. So I was surprised by the way I managed it.”
She also laughed at a question about the lessons she learnt at the tournament, pointing at her poor record at Wimbledon until this year’s edition.
“I guess I’ve learnt I can play on grass!”
Meanwhile Vondrousova revealed she had a lucky charm for Wimbledon — a drawing by the son of fellow Czech Barbora Strycova, who won the doubles title with Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Sunday for a repeat of their 2019 trophy.
“He gave it to me before the quarter-finals, he coloured a picture and handed it to me,” she said.
“I put it in my bag and it’s still there.”
On Sunday, Vondrousova relished the opportunity to attend the champions’ dinner and ball, wearing white trainers with her long black dress.
“Nobody would have known if the photographer hadn’t asked me to lift the dress a bit,” said Vondrousova, known for her collection of some 200 pairs of trainers.
“I don’t like high heels, they make my feet hurt. And I also had to mind my ankle.”
