Czech tennis stars play for Wimbledon titles this weekend

Two Czech tennis stars will compete for titles at Wimbledon this weekend. Markéta Vondrousová will play for the singles title this afternoon, while Barbora Strýcová will play for the doubles title tomorrow.

The unseeded Vondrousová will compete for her first Grand Slam title as she takes on Tunisia's Ons Jabeur from 3:00 p.m. Prague time. The sixth-seeded Jabeur made it to the Wimbledon final last year, but lost to Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina.

Vondrousová, a 24-year-old native of Sokol, is playing in a Grand Slam title match for the second time in her career after making it to the French Open final as a teenager back in 2019.

Today's Wimbledon final will be the seventh match between Vondrousová and Jabeur in their professional careers. The pair have a 3-3 record against each other, but Vondrousová won the past two matches earlier this year at the Australian Open and Indian Wells tournaments.

The Czech star is currently ranked 42nd in the world in WTA standings, but will shoot up all the way to at least 16 after her performance at Wimbledon when new rankings are announced next week. A Wimbledon victory would place her in the top ten.

Vondrousová is the first Czech to play for a Wimbledon championship since Karolína Plíšková in 2021. A victory would make her the first Czech to win a singles title at Wimbledon since Petra Kvitová in 2014. Jana Novotná and Martina Navrátilová also won the Wimbledon tournament.

The winner of the women's singles tournament at Wimbledon will receive a financial reward of 2.35 million pounds (about 65 million crowns), while the loser will receive half that amount.

Barbora Strýcová, meanwhile, is fulfilling a dream at Wimbledon this year. She'll play for the doubles title with Taiwanese partner Sie Su-wej after defeating compatriot Marie Bouzková and Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 6-1 on Friday.

The 37-year-old Strýcová and her partner previously won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2019. Afterwards, she took off more than two years for maternity leave before returning to the court earlier this year.

"My dream is coming true and we still need to take the last step," she told reporters after her victory on Friday. "But let's enjoy what we have now."

The unseeded Czech-Taiwanese pair will face off against a third-seeded team comprised of Germany's Elise Mertens and Australia's Storm Sanders on Sunday after the men's final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.