Czech tennis star Barbora Strýcová wins Wimbledon doubles, becomes world’s #1

Top-ranked Czech tennis star Barbora Strýcová and her Taiwanese partner Hsieh Su-wei handily topped Canadian/Chinese duo Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan 6-4, 6-2 yesterday to close out the 2019 tournament at Wimbledon.

Currently third in WTA doubles rankings, the win will guarantee Strýcová the #1 doubles title when rankings are updated this week as she jumps France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Hungary’s Tímea Babos, ranked first and second, respectively, coming into this year’s Wimbledon tournament.

With the win, Strýcová and Su-wei became the first doubles pair in exactly a decade to take the Wimbledon title without losing a single set during the tournament, after Serena and Venus Williams accomplished the same feat in 2009.

“Oh my God, there is no word to describe the feeling,” Strýcová told reporters after the doubles win.

“I felt like this tournament, especially Wimbledon, from the first moment we stepped on the court together, we just laughed and we just enjoyed,” she said of her play with Su-wei.

“We kept it through the whole tournament. I think that was the biggest key (to the fact) we were playing the way we played. We are very different, but both of us handle stress differently.”

“She is really calm person and I’m very emotional. But I keep [trying] to enjoy it with a smile. That helps me also to relax on the court.”

Earlier last week, Strýcová had also become the longest-lasting Czech in 2019 Wimbledon singles play before losing to Serena Williams in the semi-finals.

It was Strýcová ’s very first Wimbledon tournament as a singles entrant, and at 33, she became the tournament’s oldest debut player to reach the semi-finals.

Earlier on Sunday, France’s Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin lost Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in five sets in what was one of the longest-ever doubles finals at Wimbledon, clocking in at just shy of five hours.

The previous day, Novak Djokovic topped Roger Federer in what was the longest-ever Wimbledon men’s singles final (4:57). Also Saturday, Simona Halep topped Serena Williams to win the women’s singles title.