​LONDON (AP) — Linda Noskova admits she didn’t pay much attention to tennis as a child until she witnessed Petra Kvitova win Wimbledon in 2011. “That is maybe one of the first moments when I realized that such a sport as tennis exists,” the 21-year-old said after playing on Centre Court at the All England Club for the first time on Thursday.
More Czech fans will almost certainly be tuning in on Saturday, as the country is poised to add another Wimbledon champion to its storied history there. Noskova defeated Marta Kostyuk in straight sets to reach an all-Czech women’s final against Karolina Muchova, who earlier outlasted Coco Gauff in a dramatic third-set tiebreak. This assures a third Czech female champion at the All England Club in four years, following Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024. “It’s a tradition at this point,” Noskova said.
The Czech lineage stretches even further. When Krejcikova won her title, she credited 1998 Wimbledon winner Jana Novotna for pushing her toward professional tennis. And Novotna herself was inspired by the greatest Wimbledon champion of all time—Martina Navratilova, who won a record nine singles titles at the All England Club. “We have a great history of Czech tennis,” Muchova commented. “When I was younger, looking up to the girls who were maybe five years older than I was, you could see how well they were doing. That gave me the belief that I could do it too. That’s how it worked for me.”
Navratilova was on Centre Court on Thursday as well, providing TV commentary for the BBC. She is likely to watch Saturday’s final from the Royal Box, where she is a regular guest. “I can relax and just enjoy, because we’re going to have another Czech winner,” Navratilova said. “Czech women are certainly pulling their weight at Wimbledon; this is crazy good.”
Thursday’s semifinals marked the first time Muchova and Noskova had played on Centre Court. The pair arrived earlier to warm up and acclimate to the venue’s splendor. The two are close friends, having teamed up in doubles at the Paris Olympics in 2024, but they’ll have to set that aside for Saturday’s milestone. Muchova, ranked ninth, is in her second Grand Slam final after losing to Iga Swiatek in the 2023 French Open final. Noskova, 21, had never advanced beyond the Wimbledon fourth round, with her best Grand Slam result previously a quarterfinal at the 2024 Australian Open.
Asked why Czech players continue to excel on the Wimbledon grass, Noskova offered a few ideas. “We are very creative,” she said. “So grass allows us to use many different aspects of the game. If it’s serve-and-volley from the old days, or slices and volleys and all the variations we can implement now, the surface suits us.”