London — When Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova step onto Centre Court Saturday for the Wimbledon women’s singles final, they will add another page to the Czech Republic’s storied history at the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament — and one of them will walk away with her first Grand Slam championship.
The all-Czech final means a new name from that nation will be etched into the Wimbledon record books for the third time in four years, and the tournament’s remarkable streak of first-time women’s champions will stretch to nine consecutive editions.
For the 29-year-old Muchova, Saturday’s final represents a long-awaited return to the biggest stage. A wrist injury had slowed her career after she reached the French Open final three years ago, but she has rediscovered her form as one of the most creative players in the women’s game.
“We have great history of Czech tennis,” Muchova said. She is looking to follow in the footsteps of Marketa Vondrousova, who won at Wimbledon in 2023, and Barbora Krejcikova, who claimed the title in 2024.
Muchova credited the depth of Czech women’s tennis for inspiring her own ambitions. “Definitely the fact that there’s so many of us. Myself, when I was younger, looking up to the girls who were like maybe five years older than I was, you can see them doing so well. So it gave me the belief that I can as well do it,” she said. “That’s how it worked for me. It’s nice that we’re from such a small country and we have so many good players.”
A win for either player would place her alongside an illustrious group of Czech Wimbledon champions that includes Petra Kvitova, who won the title in 2011 and 2014, and the late Jana Novotna, whose 1998 victory remains one of the tournament’s most cherished moments. At the top of that list stands Martina Navratilova, who won her first Wimbledon singles title representing Czechoslovakia in 1978 before becoming an American citizen and ultimately collecting nine Wimbledon crowns.
At just 21 years old, Noskova arrives at her first Grand Slam final with momentum and a game well-suited to grass courts. She also teamed with Muchova in the Olympic doubles at the 2024 Paris Games, where the pair finished fourth.
Noskova’s path to the final was far from certain after a disappointing early exit at the French Open, but she regrouped and found her best tennis on the Wimbledon lawns. “It always comes out of nowhere. You can’t really plan your success or good times,” she said.
“If I could do it, I’d definitely be planning it at every Grand Slam. But after Roland Garros I was mentally tired because the clay season was long for me. I had a lot of good matches, a lot of great tournaments, but the French Open was a disaster. I had to restart, reset, focus on just enjoying the time on court and this is where it got me.”
Both players came into Wimbledon with pre-tournament title victories to build their confidence — Muchova won in Bad Homburg, while Noskova claimed the Berlin title. Noskova has been one of the quieter stories of the fortnight, but her grass-court numbers speak loudly: she carries a tour-best 19-4 win-loss record on the surface dating back to the start of 2025.
“I think I’m playing great tennis,” Noskova said. “It’s always when I feel good and relaxed off court is probably when it shows the most on court. At this stage, everybody has the level; it’s the small percent that makes the biggest difference. I feel like I’m using my game, my style on grass a lot, and it’s paying off.”
While Noskova’s success reflects a natural fit for the grass, Muchova’s greatest asset is her ability to adapt. “On grass I hadn’t played that many matches overall until this year,” Muchova said. “I’m pretty adaptive. I like them all because you can use all different types of game, weapons, spins on all the surfaces. I enjoy the changes.”
The women’s final is scheduled to begin no earlier than 11:00 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday. Earlier in the day, the men’s doubles final will feature the top-seeded team of Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Britain taking on the sixth-seeded pairing of Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia.
