{"id":330019,"date":"2025-12-05T19:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330019\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T19:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:30:10","slug":"prague-recognizes-wta-legend-helena-sukova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330019\/","title":{"rendered":"Prague recognizes WTA legend Helena Sukov\u00e1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helena Sukov\u00e1’s glittering career was recognized by her hometown of Prague on Nov. 13, when she was made an honorary citizen of the Czech capital in a ceremony at the city\u2019s historic Old Town Hall.<\/p>\n

With Prague mayor Bohuslav Svoboda presiding, Sukov\u00e1 was introduced by her brother, Cyril Suk III, who was also an accomplished tennis player. The siblings\u2019 mother, Vera Sukov\u00e1, was the runner-up to Karen Hantze Susman at Wimbledon in 1962. Their father, Cyril Suk II, served as president of the national tennis federation.<\/p>\n

“For me personally, honorary citizenship is not a showcase award, but a sincere thank you to people who make Prague better,\u201d Svoboda said. “Visibly, but also quietly, in the areas of sports, culture, education, science and in everyday service to others. Today’s honorary citizenship and medals say out loud what values we hold: honest work, talent, perseverance and courage.”<\/p>\n

\"helena<\/p>\n

\n

Photo by Michael J. Ivins\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2018, Sukov\u00e1 won 10 singles titles and 69 doubles titles, including nine women\u2019s doubles majors (earning a career Grand Slam) and five mixed doubles crowns — three of them with her brother. With notable partners including Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Jana Novotna, she spent 68 weeks as doubles World No. 1.<\/p>\n

Alongside fellow Czech Novotna, she was twice a silver medalist at the Olympic Games, at Seoul in 1988 and then Atlanta in 1996. She also helped the former Czechoslovakia win the Fed Cup on four occasions.<\/p>\n

In singles, Sukov\u00e1 rose as high as No. 4 and reached four Grand Slam finals over the course of a decade, against the very best competition. In 1984, she famously ended Martina Navratilova\u2019s 74-match winning streak in the semifinals of the Australian Open before succumbing to Chris Evert in the final. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Two years later, she got her revenge against Evert in the semis of the 1986 US Open, before falling to Navratilova. Sukova was also the runner-up to Steffi Graf at both the 1989 Australian Open and 1993 US Open.<\/p>\n

\"Sukova_US<\/p>\n

\n

Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

“The highest possible award from my hometown — just what more could you wish for?” Sukov\u00e1 said. “The introduction by my brother was masterfully done, which enhanced the celebrations even more. I thank the mayor, the city council and others who decided on my award, and of course to all who participated in organizing the whole event. Congratulations to all co-awardees; it was an honor to meet you!”<\/p>\n

Sukov\u00e1 was one of two individuals to be awarded the ancient tribute, which stems back to 1848, when illustrious “burghers” were recognized by what was then the capital of Bohemia.<\/p>\n

The other figure to receive honorary citizenship was Martin Hilsk\u00fd, an important Czech-English scholar, translator and professor of English literature, known mainly for his translations of William Shakespeare’s plays.<\/p>\n

Additionally, four accomplished individuals received a silver medal and three received a bronze medal for their contributions in diverse fields of endeavour.<\/p>\n

After earning a degree in psychology, Sukov\u00e1 now works with an array of clients, including top athletes and young talents.<\/p>\n

She is also a longtime member of Peace and Sport\u2019s Champions for Peace program, which supports high-impact schemes that use sport to build peaceful, inclusive and equitable communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Helena Sukov\u00e1’s glittering career was recognized by her hometown of Prague on Nov. 13, when she was made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-330019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}