Czechmates for the Dish: Muchova, Noskova Continue a Nation’s Stellar Legacy at Wimbledon

It will be a historic Saturday at the All England Club as Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova will contest the first Grand Slam final between two women representing the Czech Republic in the Open Era. 

It will also mark the third time in the last four years that a woman from Czechia has raised the Venus Rosewater Dish. 

In 2023 it was Marketa Vondrousova. In 2024 it was Barbora Krejcikova. 

On Centre Court on Saturday, either Noskova or Muchova will join a long line of Czech women that includes Martina Navratilova (even though most of her majors were won after she defected in 1976), Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova. 

The two finalists have met once before on tour, with Muchova scoring a three set win over Noskova at last year’s US Open. 

They’ve also shared the doubles court, at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they were one win from a medal. 

Interesting note about Saturday’s final: both players have saved a match point en route to the final. Serena Williams was the last person to do it in 2009, she defeated Venus in the final after saving a match point vs Elena Dementieva in the semis (remember that incredible match?).  The only other player to achieve that feat was Venus Williams, in 2005. 

If 21-year-old Noskova wins the title, she’d become the youngest Wimbledon champion since Kvitova in 2011. Fitting, because Noskova says watching Kvitova win Wimbledon was the moment she realized that tennis existed. She was six years old when Petra won her first title at Wimbledon. 

Muchova, who entered the tournament on a five-match Wimbledon losing streak, has now won ten consecutive matches on grass, after winning the title in Bad Homburg in the week before the Championships. 

The crafty, elegant 29-year-old did reach two Wimbledon quarterfinals prior to her losing streak. She also has more experience on the big stages than Noskova, having been to the 2023 French Open final, where she lost to Iga Swiatek in three sets. 

Noskova, meanwhile, leads all WTA players in grass court wins since the start of last year, and she is 11-1 on the surface with a title in Berlin on grass last month. She plays a powerful, first-strike brand of tennis that has proven too hot to handle by her six opponents thus far at Wimbledon. She passed her biggest test when she saved a match point to take out 36-year-old Sorana Cirstea in the third round. 

Muchova’s biggest test came on Thursday when she saved a match point to defeat Coco Gauff in a dramatic semifinal. The 29-year-old is the oldest woman to reach her first Wimbledon final since Natalie Tauziat in 1998. 

Whoever wins on Saturday will become the ninth consecutive first-time women’s singles winner at Wimbledon. Since Serena Williams won the title in 2016, only first-time winners have raised the trophy. 

Wimbledon First-Time Champions Since 2017

Keys to the Match 

Though they hail from the same nation, there are distinct differences in the way Noskova and Muchova get it done on the grass. Noskova will look to impose herself with her serve, which possesses the trifecta of pace, placement and variety. She’ll get to the net when the opportunity is there and look to take advantage of the dried out grass courts by ripping her groundstrokes through the court. What she provides in terms of power has been enough to keep her opponents on the back foot all tournament long. Muchova’s ability to absorb and redirect power will be tested. 

Muchova will use her athleticism, creativity and precision to try and take Noskova out of her comfort zone. She has all the tools to do it. She’ll want to get Noskova on the move, both side-to-side and up-and-down. A task that has proven difficult for her other opponents. 

Chipping returns could be the play for the No.10 seed, while Noskova will do her best to avoid getting bogged down by overthinking and simply do what she does best: take the play to her opponent. 

What they are saying 

Noskova on her relationship with Muchova 

“We had never really met before until a couple of years ago, when I came on tour. But she’s a great player, a great person. We got to know each other a lot during the Olympics a couple of years ago.

“We spent a lot of time together because we played doubles and almost got the medal. I feel like that was the main week for us to kind of get to know each other. I didn’t really know her well before.” 

Muchova, on adapting to grass 

“In Czech you play on the clay most of the time. Then once you get on the tour, get that ranking, you play most of the time on hard court.

“I think on the grass I didn’t play that many matches overall until this year, I would say. I’d say I’m pretty adaptive, that I can adapt to all the surfaces. I like them all because you can use all different types of game, weapons, spins on all the surfaces. I enjoy the changes.”

Key Stat, Muchova

At this event, Muchova became the fifth woman in the Open Era to defeat three Grand Slam champions in the second week en route to a Grand Slam final (defeating Krejcikova, Osaka and Gauff) – she joins Chris Evert (Wimbledon 1978), Serena Williams (US Open 1999, Wimbledon 2015), Elena Rybakina (Australian Open 2023) and Ons Jabeur (Wimbledon 2023)

Key Stat, Noskova

She will post a new career-high ranking after Wimbledon – if she wins this title, she is projected to climb to No.7. If she finishes as runner-up, she is projected to rise to No.8