LONDON — Just two weeks ago, virtually nobody would have predicted that Marta Kostyuk, Linda Noskova, Karolina Muchova, and Coco Gauff would be the last four women standing at Wimbledon.
The surprising group doesn’t exactly have an impressive track record on grass courts. Among the four, only Muchova had ever advanced as far as the quarterfinals at the All England Club — and even that achievement had become a distant memory after she was eliminated in the first round on each of her last four appearances there.
Despite all of that, when Muchova walks out onto Centre Court to face Gauff on Thursday afternoon — followed by Noskova squaring off against Kostyuk — one of these four players will be just two victories away from lifting the most iconic trophy in tennis, the Venus Rosewater Dish.
A First-Time Champion Is Guaranteed
Wimbledon has not seen a repeat women’s champion since Serena Williams captured the last of her seven titles there back in 2016. For the ninth consecutive edition of the tournament, someone will be hoisting the trophy for the very first time.
That reality prompted Noskova to observe: “Anybody can beat anybody, it’s wide open.”
No other Grand Slam event has cycled through so many different first-time champions in a row, a pattern that only adds to the legendary status surrounding Wimbledon.
Of the four remaining players, world No. 7 Gauff is the only one who has ever won a Grand Slam title, having previously claimed both the U.S. Open and French Open trophies. Yet even she admits her run to the semifinals caught her off guard, given how poorly she had performed on grass in recent years.
Gauff Reflects on Her Wimbledon Journey
“If you told me I would be in the semis … I’d be, ‘You’re funny’. Especially … the last two years not winning anything on here,” said the 22-year-old American, who has been a familiar face at Wimbledon since 2019, when she defeated Venus Williams in the first round as a 15-year-old.
“Do I feel like Wimbledon is part of my destiny? If you asked me seven days ago, the answer would have been no. Honestly, I was writing it off a little bit. But I hope it is part of my destiny, whether it’s this year or in the future. I definitely would love to see my name on the champions’ wall, for sure.”
Heading into their semifinal matchup, Gauff holds a commanding 6-1 head-to-head record against 10th seed Muchova. The Czech player, however, is choosing to focus on a more favorable statistic.
“I’m happy we have 0-0 on the grass. That’s a bit better balance for me there,” Muchova said with a smile.
Czech Players Have Long Thrived at Wimbledon
There is a long history of Czech women excelling on the Wimbledon grass. Since tennis turned professional nearly six decades ago, Czech players have won the Rosewater Dish seven times — a tally that includes the first two titles won by Martina Navratilova before she became a U.S. citizen in 1981.
Combined, Navratilova, Jana Novotna, Petra Kvitova (twice), Marketa Vondrousova, and Barbora Krejcikova account for more Wimbledon titles than the total of five Grand Slam titles Czech women have won at the other three major tournaments combined since 1968.
Both Muchova and Noskova also have the added motivation of potentially setting up the first all-Czech Grand Slam final in history.
Ninth seed Noskova, like her semifinal opponents, is still having trouble believing she is this close to tennis history. Still, that sense of disbelief hasn’t stopped her from dreaming of achieving “big things in the world” — just like her idol, Kvitova.
“We had two matches against each other … I was just kind of stunned that I was on the same court with ‘the’ Petra Kvitova,” said Noskova, who lost to Ukrainian 12th seed Kostyuk in their only prior meeting. “As a kid, I was always looking up to her. She was the face of Czech tennis. When she won two Wimbledons … she helped me to get into tennis a little bit. I would love to follow her in her footsteps. If the outcome’s going to be the same, I would love nothing more.”
For Kostyuk, she is hoping her deep run at Wimbledon can offer a moment of joy to her homeland, which continues to endure the hardships of war. “I’m hoping it would mean a lot,” she said.
Thursday’s Order of Play — Women’s Semifinals (Centre Court, 12:30 p.m. GMT)
No. 10 Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) vs. No. 7 Coco Gauff (United States)
No. 12 Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) vs. No. 9 Linda Noskova (Czech Republic)
