_14.jpg) Vondroušová at the2023 US Open | ||||||||||||
| Country (sports) |  Czech Republic | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residence | Prague, Czech Republic[1] | |||||||||||
| Born | (1999-06-28)28 June 1999 (age 26) Sokolov, Czech Republic | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[1] | |||||||||||
| Plays | Left-handed (two-handed backhand) | |||||||||||
| Coach | ||||||||||||
| Prize money | US$ 11,949,275 | |||||||||||
| Singles | ||||||||||||
| Career record | 287–126 | |||||||||||
| Career titles | 3 | |||||||||||
| Highest ranking | No. 6 (11 September 2023) | |||||||||||
| Current ranking | No. 35 (29 September 2025) | |||||||||||
| Grand Slam singles results | ||||||||||||
| Australian Open | 4R (2021) | |||||||||||
| French Open | F (2019) | |||||||||||
| Wimbledon | W (2023) | |||||||||||
| US Open | QF (2023,2025) | |||||||||||
| Other tournaments | ||||||||||||
| Tour Finals | RR (2023) | |||||||||||
| Olympic Games | F (2021) | |||||||||||
| Doubles | ||||||||||||
| Career record | 87–45 | |||||||||||
| Career titles | 0 | |||||||||||
| Highest ranking | No. 38 (11 September 2023) | |||||||||||
| Current ranking | No. 373 (23 June 2025) | |||||||||||
| Grand Slam doubles results | ||||||||||||
| Australian Open | SF (2019) | |||||||||||
| French Open | 2R (2019,2023) | |||||||||||
| Wimbledon | QF (2017) | |||||||||||
| US Open | 3R (2023) | |||||||||||
| Other doubles tournaments | ||||||||||||
| Olympic Games | 2R (2020) | |||||||||||
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | ||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | 2R (2021) | |||||||||||
| Team competitions | ||||||||||||
| Fed Cup | SF (2017), record 13–2 | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||
| Last updated on: 23 June 2025. | ||||||||||||
Markéta Vondroušová (Czech:[ˈmarkɛːtaˈvondrouʃovaː]; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professionaltennis player. She has been ranked world No. 6 in singles by theWTA. Vondroušová has won threeWTA Tour-level singles titles, including the2023 Wimbledon Championships, the first unseeded player to win theWimbledon women's singles title.[2][3][4] She was also runner-up at the2019 French Open, and claimed a silver medal at the2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Vondroušová is a former junior world No. 1, having won two major doubles titles. She had a quick breakthrough on theWTA Tour, winning the2017 Ladies Open Biel Bienne at age 17 in just her second career WTA Tour singles event. This helped her reach the top 100 of theWTA rankings before turning 18. Vondroušová struggled with injuries early in her career, most notably missing the second half of the 2019 season shortly after her French Open final. Her signature shot is thedrop shot. She is one of the best returners on tour, having led the tour in percentage of return games won and percentage of return points won in 2019 among all players with at least ten matches.
Markéta Vondroušová was born on 28 June 1999 to David Vondrouš and Jindřiška Anderlová inSokolov, a small town in the north-west of the Czech Republic. Her father introduced her to tennis at the age of four, having played the sport recreationally.[5] Her mother played volleyball for SK Slavia Prague in the top-flight Extraliga.[6][7] Her parents divorced when Vondroušová was three, but they both stayed in her life and supported her growth as a tennis player.[8] When Vondroušová was young, she tried a variety of sports, including skiing, football, table tennis, andfloorball, excelling in them all. She began to focus on tennis early, entering a national mini-tennis tournament onŠtvanice island in Prague in 2006, in which she finished third and qualified for an international tournament inUmag inCroatia. At this tournament, she lost in the first round, but won the consolation bracket as an eight-year-old competing against mostly nine-year-old players.[6][9]
After the tournament on Štvanice, it was arranged for Vondroušová to go back to train there, at theI. ČLTK Prague.[6] During this time, she trained for five days a week, on two of which she travelled from her hometown to Prague to train on Štvanice and spend the night there. She had another international success at age 12, when she won the Nike Junior Tour International Masters in the United States, which was regarded as an unofficial 12-and-under world championship.[9] At age 15, she moved to Prague to train more regularly there.[8]
Vondroušová has a strong athletic background on her mother's side. Her great grandfather, František Frk, was the Czechoslovak nationalpentathlon champion in 1935.[9]
Vondroušová is a former world No. 1 junior. She made her debut on theITF Junior Circuit at the age of 13 and won both the singles and doubles events at her first tournament, the Grade 5 San Michel International Tournament inMalta in April 2013. Later in the year, she won a higher-level Grade 4 singles event in Poland as well as a separate Grade 2 doubles event in the Czech Republic. Vondroušová made her Grade 1 debut with a singles semifinal in January 2014, which she followed with a second round loss in her debut at the highest-level Grade A tournaments in May.[10][11] She entered her first junior Grand Slam events in May and had immediate success, reaching the semifinals at both theFrench Open andWimbledon. In both tournaments, she lost to the eventual championsDaria Kasatkina andJeļena Ostapenko respectively.[12][13] Vondroušová fared better in doubles at the French Open, finishing runner-up to the Romanian team ofIoana Ducu andIoana Loredana Roșca alongside AmericanCiCi Bellis in amatch tiebreak.[14] Despite losing her opening singles matches at her last two Grade A tournaments of the year, theUS Open and theOrange Bowl,[10][11] Vondroušová ended 2014 by winning the Orange Bowl doubles title with Bellis.[15]
Vondroušová continued to have success in doubles in 2015, most notably winning her only two junior Grand Slam titles and three Grade-A[a] doubles events in total.[10][11] Although she lost her opening-round match at theAustralian Open, she won the doubles title with compatriotMiriam Kolodziejová without dropping a set.[16] Vondroušová did not play another junior event until late May, instead opting to play events on the professional circuit. In her return, she won both the singles and doubles events at the Grade-ATrofeo Bonfiglio, again partnering with Kolodziejová. She defeatedCharlotte Robillard-Millette in the singles final for her only career Grade-A singles title. With these titles, Vondroušová became the No. 1 ranked junior in the world for the first time.[17] While she lost in the semifinals at theFrench Open for the second consecutive year,[18][19] she won a second Grand Slam doubles title with Kolodziejová, again without losing a set.[20] The semifinal was her best Grand Slam singles result of the year. Vondroušová and Kolodziejová then won a fourth consecutive title at the Grade-1 Junior International Roehampton[21] before their 28-match win streak came to an end in theWimbledon semifinals, where they were defeated by the Hungarian team ofDalma Gálfi andFanny Stollár.[10][11][22]
Toward the end of the 2015 season, Vondroušová represented the Czech Republic at the Junior Fed Cup with Monika Kilnarová and Anna Slováková. She won all eight of her rubbers and led the Czech team to the title with a 2–1 victory over US team ofKayla Day andClaire Liu, in the final.[23] Vondroušová only played one junior tournament in 2016, losing in the third round in singles at theFrench Open.[10][11]
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Vondroušová began playing on theITF Women's Circuit in May 2014 at the age of 14 and qualified for her first main draw later in the year. She reached her first singles final at the lowest $10k level in March 2015 at Sharm El Sheikh, where she won the doubles event for her first professional title. Her first and second singles title came in May and June respectively. Vondroušová made her WTA Tour main-draw doubles debut in April 2015 at thePrague Open, losing her opening match alongsideKateřina Vaňková. She made her WTA Tour singles debut at thesame tournament a year later, winning her first career match againstOcéane Dodin before losing to eventual runner-upSamantha Stosur.[24][25] Vondroušová did not enter any more events after May 2016 due to a left elbow injury.[26]
Vondroušová returned to the tour in January 2017 and won her first two ITF singles events back followed by two more runner-up finishes in her third and fifth events.[24][25] This success helped her break into the top 300 for the first time by the end of February.[27]
At theLadies Open Biel Bienne in April, Vondroušová had her first big breakthrough. She won her maiden WTA Tour title at age 17 in just her second career WTA singles event. After entering the main draw through qualifying, she upset top seed and world No. 18Barbora Strýcová in the semifinals. She then defeatedAnett Kontaveit in the final. With the title, she rose to No. 117 in the world. Having started the tournament at No. 233, she was also the lowest-ranked finalist on the WTA Tour sinceJustine Henin in 2010.[28][29][30] Vondroušová then won a 100k title at theSlovak Open back on the ITF Circuit the next month to enter the top 100 for the first time. This also made her the youngest player in the top 100 at the time.[31][32]
At her major debut at theFrench Open, she made it through qualifying and defeatedAmandine Hesse in her first main-draw match, before losing to Daria Kasatkina.[33] Vondroušová was directly accepted into the main draw atWimbledon, losing her opening match. Later that month, she won another ITF title, at the 80kPrague Open, to rise to No. 68 in the world.[27] Nonetheless, she again lost her opening match at theUS Open, despite pushing No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova to a third-set tiebreak. She ended her season after September.[34]
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Vondroušová had a slow start into the 2018 season, not winning multiple main-draw matches at any of her first five tournaments of the year, including theAustralian Open.[34] Nonetheless, she continued to rise in the rankings to as high as No. 50, after reaching the fourth round at theIndian Wells Open, where she defeated No. 11Johanna Konta in the second round.[27][35] Once Vondroušová did not defend the ranking points from her first title during theclay court season, her ranking began to drop. She won just two matches on clay and lost her opening round match at theFrench Open, causing her to fall outside the top 100.[27] She also lost in the opening round atWimbledon.[34] Two weeks later, Vondroušová reached her first semifinal of the year at theLadies Championship Gstaad.[36] Nonetheless, she remained outside the top 100 by late August. As the last direct acceptance into the main draw of theUS Open, Vondroušová produced her best result of the season. She upset No. 13Kiki Bertens in the third round in a third-set tiebreak, before losing in her next match.[37] This result brought her back to No. 71 in the world. For the second consecutive year, she finished at No. 67, after ending her season in September.[27][34]
Vondroušová had a strong start into the 2019 season. Although she lost in the second round of theAustralian Open in singles, she reached semifinals in doubles withBarbora Strýcová where they lost a tight match to Samantha Stosur andZhang Shuai.[38] Vondroušová then reached the quarterfinals or better at each of her next six singles events. This streak included three finals appearances and began with a runner-up finish to defending championAlison Van Uytvanck at theHungarian Ladies Open.[39] At theIndian Wells Open, Vondroušová upset No. 2Simona Halep, the highest-ranked opponent she ever defeated.[40] With quarterfinal appearances there and at theMiami Open, she returned to the top 50 for the first time in a little over a year.[27] Vondroušová reached another final at theİstanbul Cup where she lost to No. 40,Petra Martić.[41] She then defeated Halep again during her quarterfinal run at theItalian Open.[42]
Vondroušová's best performance of the season came at theFrench Open, where she made it to the final without dropping a set. As an unseeded player, she defeated four seeded players including No. 12,Anastasija Sevastova in the fourth round and No. 26, Johanna Konta in the semifinals.[43][44] She also defeated No. 31 Martić in the quarterfinals for the first time, after losing all four of their previous meetings.[45] In the final, she lost to No. 8,Ashleigh Barty, only winning four games.[46] Nonetheless, she became the first teenager to contest the French Open final sinceAna Ivanovic in2007 and the first to play in any Grand Slam final sinceCaroline Wozniacki at the2009 US Open.[44] She also entered top 20 for the first time.[27] Despite this success, she lost in the opening round atWimbledon toMadison Brengle, her last match of the year.[47] After missing the next few months due to a left wrist injury suffered during that match, Vondroušová had surgery in September and stayed out for the rest of the season.[48] She reached a peak ranking of No. 14 in the world during the season, and finished the year at No. 16.[27]
On her debut at the WTA 1000-level in doubles at theItalian Open, Vondroušová and partnerKristina Mladenovic reached the final, defeating second-seeded duo ofBarbora Krejčíková andKateřina Siniaková in the quarterfinals and wildcard pairSara Errani andIrina-Camelia Begu in the semifinals. They lost their final to the alternate pair and WTA 1000-level first time winners,Giuliana Olmos andSharon Fichman.
At theTokyo Olympics, Vondroušová beat 16th seedKiki Bertens, in the latter's final ever singles match on tour, andMihaela Buzărnescu to reach the third round. Next, she upset second seed and home favouriteNaomi Osaka, beating her in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals. There, she eliminatedPaula Badosa (by retirement) to advance to the semifinals, where she scored her second top-10 win in the tournament by beatingElina Svitolina to reach the final and guarantee a medal. She lost toBelinda Bencic in three sets and won the silver medal.[49]
Seeded 30th atIndian Wells, she defeated unseededMagdalena Fręch and fourth seed Anett Kontaveit to reach the fourth round for the third time at this tournament.[50][51]
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Using protected ranking, she reached the third rounds of theAustralian Open, defeatingAlison Riske and second seedOns Jabeur, and of theIndian Wells, defeatingRebecca Marino and 28th seedMarie Bouzková. In the latter, she went one step further into the round of 16 for the fourth time at this WTA 1000 tournament defeating again fourth seed Ons Jabeur.[52] At theMiami Open, she reached back-to-back WTA 1000 fourth rounds and for the first time since 2021 at this tournament (having skipped the 2022 edition) defeatingTatjana Maria, 11th seedVeronika Kudermetova, and 17th seed compatriotKarolína Plíšková.
AtWimbledon, she reached the fourth round for the first time at this major defeatingPeyton Stearns, 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova and 20th seedDonna Vekić. With this result, she has reached the fourth round at all major tournaments. In the fourth round, she defeated 32nd seed and fellow Czech Marie Bouzková, reaching the quarterfinals of a major for the first time since the2019 French Open. In the quarterfinals, she overcame a 1–4 third-set deficit to beat fourth seedJessica Pegula for her first Wimbledon semifinal. She became only the third woman in theOpen Era to defeat four seeds to reach the semifinals at the All England Club along with Zheng Jie (2008) and Barbora Strýcová (2019).[53] She defeated Elina Svitolina, who had received a wildcard into the tournament, in straight sets to progress to her first Wimbledon final and secondGrand Slam tournament final overall.[54] On 15 July, she defeated Ons Jabeur in the final, becoming the first unseeded ladies' singles Wimbledon champion in theOpen Era.[2][55][56] Ranked No. 42, she also became the lowest ranked Wimbledon champion in the Open era. On 17 July 2023, she entered the top 10 in the WTA rankings.[57]
Following reaching the quarterfinals at theUS Open for the first time, she moved to a new career-high in the top 10, at world No. 6, on 11 September 2023.[58] On 21 December 2023, Vondroušová was named "Sportsperson of the year" at the Czech Republic's 2023Sportsperson of the Year awards.[59]
Competing at the2024 French Open, she reached the quarterfinals losing to eventual championIga Świątek. This was her best performance at the French Open since reaching the final in 2019.[60][61]
AtWimbledon, Vondroušová was upset in the first round by world No. 83,Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro.[62][63] This loss marked the second time in the Open era that the reigning Wimbledon women's singles champion lost in the first round, afterSteffi Graf lost toLori McNeil in1994.[64] It was also the first time that a reigning champion of any major lost in the first round sinceEmma Raducanu at the2022 US Open.[65]
On 22 July, Vondroušová announced her withdrawal from theParis Olympics due to a hand injury[66][67] which also led her to pull out of theUS Open.[68]
Six months after her previous match, Vondroušová returned to the WTA Tour at theAdelaide International, defeatingAnastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round.[69][70] Having won the opening set, she retired from her second round match against sixth seedDiana Shnaider.[71] Vondroušová subsequently withdrew from theAustralian Open.[72]
She entered theAbu Dhabi Open in February as a wildcard player and defeated Emma Raducanu[73] and fourth seedYulia Putintseva[74] to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Belinda Bencic.[75]
In March, Vondroušová announced she would miss the "next few months" of the season due a shoulder injury.[76] She was scheduled to return to competitive action at theItalian Open in May but withdrew just before the tournament began having failed to recover sufficiently to play.[77] Two weeks later, Vondroušová made her comeback at theFrench Open, defeating qualifierOksana Selekhmeteva[78] and 25th seedMagdalena Fręch[79] to make it through to the third round, in which she lost to third seed Jessica Pegula in three sets.[80]
Moving onto the grass-court season at theBerlin Open, she defeated seventh seedMadison Keys,[81] Diana Shnaider,[82] lucky loser Ons Jabeur,[83] and world No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, to reach the final.[84] Vondroušová won the championship match against qualifierWang Xinyu in three sets to claim her first title since winning Wimbledon in 2023, and returned to the top 100 at No. 73 on 23 June.[85] Ranked No. 164, she was the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history.[86] AtWimbledon, she defeated 32nd seedMcCartney Kessler,[87] before losing toEmma Raducanu in the second round.[88]
Vondroušová defeatedAlexandra Eala[89] to reach the second round at theCanadian Open, where she lost to 24th seedMarta Kostyuk.[90] She also made it through to the second round at theCincinnati Open with a win overJaqueline Cristian,[91] before losing to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.[92] At theUS Open, Vondroušová defeated qualifierOksana Selekhmeteva,[93] 32nd seedMccartney Kessler,[94] seventh seed Jasmine Paolini[95] and ninth seed Elena Rybakina to make it into the quarterfinals.[96] She withdrew due to a knee injury before her last eight match against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.[97]
Having won theJunior Fed Cup in 2015, Vondroušova made her seniorBillie Jean King Cup debut for theCzech Republic in 2017 in theirWorld Group semifinal tie against theUnited States. She lost her first match againstCoCo Vandeweghe, but recovered to defeatLauren Davis to set up a decisive doubles rubber. The Czech team lost the doubles match and was eliminated.[98] Vondroušova returned to play in the Fed Cup in 2019 for the Czech team'sWorld Group Play-off tie againstCanada. She won two of the first three singles matches as the Czech Republic swept the tie to keep them in the World Group for 2020.[99]
She also represented her country in the2020 Olympics, where she upset home favoriteNaomi Osaka in the third round of competition.[100][101] She reached the final defeatingPaula Badosa (by retirement) in the quarterfinals and fourth seedElina Svitolina in the semifinals, booking Czech Republic's first Olympic singles final.[102] She lost to Belinda Bencic in three sets and was awarded the silver medal.[103]
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Vondroušová's signature shot is thedrop shot. In general, she has a crafty style of play and employs a wide variety of shots. She developed this type of playing style from working with one of her early coaches Jan Fuchs, who played the same way.[104] Her game often includes long, strategic rallies in which she makes use of her left-handedtopspinforehand.[105] Vondroušová has said, "I'm just trying to play aggressive and maybe, like, mix the points, and I just want to serve well and move well."[26] Her favorite surface is clay, the surface she grew up playing on. She also likes hard courts because of her playing style.[1] Vondroušová excels in her return game more than her service game. In 2019, she led the WTA Tour in first serve points won on return among players with at least ten matches, winning 43.4% of them. She was also first in percentage of return games won and percentage of return points won overall.[106]
As a junior, Vondroušová was coached byJan Fuchs starting from before the age of 12. Her stepfather Tomáš Anderle, who is a hockey coach, served as her physical fitness trainer.[9] She was later coached by Zdeněk Kubík for three years. By 2015, she replaced Kubík withJiří Hřebec andDušan Karol.[107] Hřebec is a former Czech professional player who reached a career-high ranking of No. 25 in the world on the ATP Tour.[108] Vondroušová switched coaches from Hřebec to Martin Fassati in April 2018. After a lack of success with Fassati, she switched coaches again a few months later toJan Hernych, another Czech former ATP professional player.[109] She also later resumed working with Hřebec. Hernych serves as her only traveling coach since Hřebec does not travel to tournaments.[110]
In July 2022, she married her longtime partner Štěpán Šimek.[111] They had been engaged since the 2020 Olympics, where Vondroušová won the silver medal.[112] They divorced in 2024.[113] A few months after divorce, Vondroušová confirmed a relationship with Czech tennis playerAndrew Paulson.[114]
In 2024, the Czech edition ofForbes featured Vondroušová in their "30 Under 30" list.[115]
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | SR | W–L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | 2R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 3R | 3R | 1R | A | 0 / 7 | 9–7 | 56% |
| French Open | 2R | 1R | F | 1R | 4R | A | 2R | QF | 3R | 0 / 8 | 17–8 | 68% |
| Wimbledon | 1R | 1R | 1R | NH | 2R | A | W | 1R | 2R | 1 / 7 | 9–6 | 60% |
| US Open | 1R | 4R | A | 2R | 2R | A | QF | A | QF[A] | 0 / 6 | 13–5 | 72% |
| Win–loss | 1–3 | 4–4 | 7–3 | 1–3 | 8–4 | 2–1 | 14–3 | 4–3 | 7–2 | 1 / 28 | 48–26 | 65% |
| Tournament | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | SR | W–L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | 1R | SF | 1R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 0 / 6 | 8–6 | 57% |
| French Open | A | 1R | 2R | A | A | A | 2R | 0 / 3 | 2–3 | 40% |
| Wimbledon | QF | 1R | A | NH | 2R | A | 3R[B] | 0 / 4 | 6–3 | 67% |
| US Open | 1R | A | A | A | 2R | A | 3R[B] | 0 / 3 | 3–2 | 60% |
| Win–loss | 3–2 | 0–3 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 7–2 | 0 / 16 | 19–14 | 58% |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 2019 | French Open | Clay |  Ashleigh Barty | 1–6, 3–6 |
| Win | 2023 | Wimbledon | Grass |  Ons Jabeur | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Result | Year | Location | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | 2021 | Tokyo Olympics | Hard |  Belinda Bencic | 5–7, 6–2, 3–6 |
Vondrousova has kept her surname in tennis after her wedding. (…) But she is "Simkova" on all her private documents, which sometimes causes problems -- a messenger was looking for Mrs Simkova at her tennis club and nobody was able to recall it was her.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Czech Athlete of the Year 2023 | Succeeded by |
Women's Tennis Association: Top Czech female singles tennis players | |
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as of 30 June 2025 | |
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