Vondrousova one step from 'mission impossible'

LONDON: For Marketa Vondrousova the very notion of winning Wimbledon was an impossibility a year ago, but on Saturday she has the chance to add her name to an esteemed list of Czech champions.

Back then she was a Wimbledon 'tourist' supporting her friend and doubles partner Miriam Kolodziejova in qualifying and seeing London's sights, after her own participation was ruled out because of a second surgery on her wrist.

In actual fact, what was mainly occupying her thoughts was her looming wedding to partner Stepan Simek for which, thankfully, her plaster cast came off in time for the big day.

Now, after beating Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3 on Thursday, she is preparing for another significant milestone moment in her life - a women's singles final against Tunisia's Ons Jabeur on Centre Court where she can follow the likes of Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova.

Not only that, but Prague-based Vondrousova, 24, can become the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon.

"I had a cast on. It was after the surgery. I didn't play for almost six months, so it was very tough," Vondrousova told reporters when asked to cast her mind back 12 months.

"I'm just so grateful to be here. It's crazy that this is happening. I mean, for me, when it was clay or hard, maybe I would say, yeah maybe it's possible.

"But grass was impossible for me. It's even crazier that this is happening."

Of course, the Olympic silver-medallist is no stranger to surprise runs at Grand Slams, having reached the French Open final as a teenager in 2019, also when unseeded.

Then she lost to Australia's Ash Barty, admitting the it had all been 'too much for her' but this time with a few more years of experience she hopes to go one better than her friend Karolina Muchova