When Linda Noskova squandered five match-points and conceded the second set of a drama-filled final against Karolina Muchova, tennis fans of a certain vintage will have been reminded of one of Wimbledon’s more evocative moments, featuring another Czech woman.
Key Factors
Jana Novotna’s tears on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after throwing away an apparently decisive advantage against Steffi Graf in the 1993 final remains one of The Championships’ most enduring scenes. At the 2024 Australian Open, a 19-year-old Noskova downed top seed Iga Swiatek in three sets. Noskova was showing worryingly similar signs of a meltdown. That she did, staving off break-points at the start of the third set before landing a crucial break and closing the match out with cold-blooded ruthlessness. In a candid admission after the final, she conceded that the pressure-packed situation had overwhelmed her in the second set as the match-points slipped through her grasp across three different games. “My hand kind of froze at certain moments. “Winning it this way, really having to fight for it, having all these ups and downs, it matters a lot. I have to learn a lot from this match. The ability to come in clutch on the biggest stage is an excellent barometer of an athlete’s temperament. It’s a quality opponents immediately recognise. “She’ll go after every point; she’ll fight for every point, so she’s really competitive. Noskova is aware that she possesses this ability. This was on display when she first caught the tennis world’s attention. She held her nerve on the big points in the deciding set, much like she did against Muchova in her finest moment yet. Perhaps it’s not surprising that she handled adversity in the final with such aplomb. She spoke emotionally of her mother Ivana who died two years ago from cancer and throughout her career has impressed observers with her level-headed approach to life and tennis. Noskova has shown she has the game and the mentality to compete at the business end of Majors. A junior champion at Roland-Garros, she should contend on all surfaces — even if she did struggle on the dirt this year, failing to reach a semifinal in the clay-court season and crashing out in the first round in Paris.
My feet were not as quick as they had been before,” she said. Muchova, who pushed her young compatriot into revealing her character in the final, described Noskova as a “calm fighter” in the big moments. It’s definitely tough to play her on any surface,” Muchova said. “When I am putting pressure on myself, that is usually when I play my best,” she said after her quarterfinal win over Elise Mertens.
