WIMBLEDON, United Kingdom — On Saturday, Marketa Vondrousova beat 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 to win Wimbledon. She was the lowest-ranked winner and the first woman who wasn’t a top seed.

Vondrousova is placed 42nd and is from the Czech Republic. She hits with her left hand and is 24 years old. She was the first unseeded woman to even get to the final at the All England Club in 60 years. The last one, Billie Jean King, the runner-up in 1963, was sitting in the front row of the Royal Box with Kate, the Princess of Wales, on Saturday.

The main stadium’s movable roof was closed, protecting everyone from the wind that was blowing up to 20 mph (30 kph) outside. This may have helped Vondrousova’s smooth lefty strokes hit the mark over and over again. Her shots didn’t show any kind of stress like Jabeur’s did.

Vondrousova was behind in each set, but she won the last four games of the first set and the last three games of the second set.

This is her first time winning a Grand Slam. She was only 16 when she lost in the final of the 2019 French Open.

Jabeur has now lost three big games in a row. The 28-year-old Tunisian woman is the only Arab and North African woman to get that far in a Grand Slam singles event.

But she lost to No. 1 Iga Swiatek at the U.S. Open and Elena Rybakina at the All England Club.

Two weeks ago, it was hard to imagine that Vondrousova would become the winner.

Before this fortnight, she had a record of 1–4 at Wimbledon and had only made it to the second round on the grass courts once. This fortnight, she is 7–0. A year ago, Vondrousova couldn’t even play at Wimbledon. Instead, she went to cheer on a friend with a cast on her recently fixed left wrist.

Because of that illness, Vondrousova couldn’t play from April to October and ended the year ranked only 99th.

They both broke serve early on, and after 23 minutes it was tied at 2 each. Again, they took breaks at love, and after 34 minutes, it was 4 all.

But Jabeur kept making mistakes—she ended up with 27 unforced errors—and Vondrousova took 16 of the last 18 points in the first set to move ahead.

During the time between sets, when there was a break, Jabeur went to the dressing room. When she went back out, she made another mistake right away, and the crowd cheered a lot to show their support. Vondrousova got a break point after another mistake, and Jabeur gave it to her by putting another shot in the net. At 45 minutes into the match, Vondrousova was ahead by a set and a break.

So, that’s when Jabeur’s life started to change in a way. She won three games in a row to go up 3-1, which could be a sign of the comebacks she made to beat Rybakina, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, and 2019 U.S. Open winner Bianca Andreescu after losing the first set.

The crowd was cheering for the famous Jabeur, who was called the Minister of Happiness for how she acted on and off the court. The amount of support they gave her went up as she played better.

It was short-lived.

Vondrousova got over that setback, and for the first time during the event, her husband was there, so she sped to the finish.

When she won the game with a flying lob, she was the happiest she had ever been on the green.

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