Markéta Vondrouová made tennis history by becoming the first unseeded player to win the women’s Wimbledon championship on Saturday.
The 24-year-old had lost to Ashleigh Barty in the French Open final in 2019 before she won the first Grand Slam of her career. She earned Olympic silver in Tokyo two years later when Belinda Bencic defeated the Czech player in three sets.
Here are the top 5 facts you might not know about Vondrousova
1 The meaning of Markéta Vondroušová’s tattoos
Vondroušová has multiple tattoos on her body. A tattoo on her right elbow says “No rain, no flowers”, which means that success doesn’t come easily.
“I think you know, without failure, there is no success, so you have to go through some hard matches. Even if you lose especially, if you keep believing in yourself and yeah, this is the reward,” she said in 2021 according to The Sun.
2 Sport runs in the family
Jindika Anderlová, a former renowned volleyball player for Slavia Prague, is the mother of Vondrouová. She became interested in tennis because of her father, who played the sport recreationally.
Frantiek Frk, who won the Czech national pentathlon championship in 1935, was the maternal grandfather of the Olympic silver medalist.
3 A big cat lover
Vondrouová enjoys spending time with cats. Her husband and sister have been taking care of her sphynx cat, Frankie, while the tennis star has been competing at Wimbledon.
The Olympic medalist scheduled a cat sitter before the Wimbledon final so that her husband and sister could fly to London and witness her win her first Grand Slam title.
4 Nicknamed “Maky”
Her first name, Marketa, is shortened to “Maky,” which is a popular nickname for Vondrouová. Despite changing her last name to “Simkova” following her marriage to IT project manager Stepan Simek last year, Vondrouová continues to use her maiden name in tennis.
5 Collects trainers and art
Vondrousova has an obsession with shoe shopping. She actually has more than 200 pairs of trainers.
The Czech is also very interested in art and fashion.
