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Enable Cookies<\/a> \n Yet another different Wimbledon winner\n <\/p>\n Since Serena Williams last won the title in 2016, Wimbledon has produced a different champion every single year.<\/p>\n Garbine Muguruza – 2017<\/p>\n Angelique Kerber – 2018<\/p>\n Simona Halep – 2019<\/p>\n Not held in 2020 (Covid-19)<\/p>\n Ashleigh Barty – 2021<\/p>\n Marketa Vondrousova – 2023<\/p>\n Barbora Krejcikova – 2024<\/p>\n Iga Swiatek – 2025<\/p>\n Linda Noskova – 2026<\/p>\n “It feels incredible. All of these matches have been so tough physically and mentally, today especially. It’s never easy to get the last point,” Noskova said after collecting the trophy.<\/p>\n “Karo, you really made me work for it! I’m so glad I could play my first Grand Slam with you. We made history today.<\/p>\n “All our Czech fans at home will be proud of us, so no matter the result, it was a good day for both of us.”<\/p>\n How Noskova came close to throwing it away…. <\/p>\n Instagram<\/p>\n This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Ninth seed Noskova looked set for an easy win \u200bas she \u2060led 6-2 \u20605-2 but had to \u200cendure an astonishing fightback from Muchova before \u2060finally prevailing to \u200bclaim her first \u200bGrand Slam \u200btitle.<\/p>\n It was another former Czech champion, the late Jana Novotna, that came to mind when Noskova blew her lead in the second set and five match points to send the contest to a decider.<\/p>\n Novotna’s tears on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after she squandered an apparently decisive advantage against Steffi Graf in the 1993 final remains one of Wimbledon’s most famous moments.<\/p>\n Novotna had to wait until 1998 for her cathartic winning moment but somehow \u200cNoskova banished the demons in her head as she regained control to forge 5-2 ahead in the third set.<\/p>\n The 29-year-old Muchova pulled one game back as the shadows crept \u2060across the court but when Noskova was asked \u200bto serve for the match for a \u200bsecond time, she made no mistake to claim \u200bher first Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n After bringing up another two \u2060match points, well over an hour after her first one, she banged down an unreturnable serve before collapsing to \u2060the court in relief as much \u200bas joy.<\/p>\n Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, was in attendance, as was the greatest Czech-born player of them all, Martina Navratilova – who won a record nine singles titles at the All England Club.<\/p>\n \n Who is Linda Noskova?\n <\/p>\n Noskova made her WTA qualifying debut in Prague in \u200c2020.<\/p>\n She won the 2021 French Open girls’ singles title and finished the season with a 38-9 \u200bwin-loss record, capturing four ITF Circuit titles, including a W60 event in Prerov, Czech Republic.<\/p>\n Started her professional career on the ITF circuit in 2022, winning \u200bsix titles.<\/p>\n She broke into the top 100 on August 1, \u20602022, after a semi-final run in Prague, \u2060becoming the youngest player in the rankings by overtaking Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n In a breakthrough 2023 season, Noskova finished runner-up at Adelaide \u200c1 as a qualifier, losing to Aryna Sabalenka, and at Prague, where she lost to Nao Hibino. She also reached the quarter-finals in Lyon and the third round \u200cat Indian Wells and Cincinnati, breaking into the top 40 in October 2023.<\/p>\n Noskova reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final at the 2024 Australian Open, where she upset then world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the third round before losing to Dayana Yastremska.<\/p>\n \u2060She also won her maiden WTA singles title at Monterrey in \u200bthe same year, defeating Lulu Sun in the final. She \u200balso reached the semi-finals in Prague and Brisbane.<\/p>\n In 2025, she reached \u200bthree tour finals \u2014 her first WTA 1000 final in Beijing, where she lost \u2060to Amanda Anisimova, plus Prague and Tokyo \u2014 made her top 20 debut and ended the season at a career-high year-end No 13.<\/p>\n This was Noskova’s eighth career WTA singles final.<\/p>\n Noskova \u2060is the fourth player since 2020 to reach \u200btheir first Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon, joining Elena Rybakina, Ons \u200bJabeur and Amanda Anisimova.<\/p>\n She defeated Muchova in the Wimbledon final to become the youngest player to win Wimbledon since \u200cPetra Kvitova in 2011.<\/p>\n ‘Linda, my ex-friend!’ <\/p>\n Image: A tearful Muchova said: “It’s really tough to find any words.<\/p>\n “Linda, my ex-friend! I’m kidding obviously, kind of! You’re so young and this is your first Grand Slam final and the way you handled it and played was unbelievable.<\/p>\n “You’re a very kind person and human being, so congratulations to you and your team.<\/p>\n “I’m really glad to be standing here even though I’m pretty disappointed now.<\/p>\n “When I look to my corner, I have all my friends and family who cancelled their plans and came here for me. I appreciate them all.<\/p>\n “I’ll be fighting, fighting more and I want that trophy and I hope I get the chance to get to the final again and I will come back.”<\/p>\n Tale of the Tape: Noskova vs Muchova It marks the second consecutive Grand Slam won by a player 21 or younger after Mirra Andreeva claimed the French Open at 19 last month. It’s the first time that’s happened at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Justine Henin and Serena Williams, respectively, claimed those titles in 2003.<\/p>\n Watch the US Open, live on Sky Sports from August 30 or stream with NOW<\/a> and the Sky Sports app<\/a>, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Linda Noskova sealed her maiden Grand Slam title as she became the third Czech women’s Wimbledon champion in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-544871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n Allow Cookies Once<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Karolina](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/skysports-karolina-muchova_7295453.jpg\")
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\n Muchova suffered a painful defeat at the hands of her ‘ex-friend’<\/p>\n![\"Linda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/skysports-linda-noskova-karolina-muchova_7295450.png\"\/)
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