Marketa Vondrousova has opened up on her difficult ‘last few weeks’, with her divorce following the death of her grandfather, Stanislav, which saw her leave Indian Wells prematurely earlier this year.
Vondrousova set the tennis world alight last summer when she became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon, beating Ons Jabbeur 6-4 6-4 to lift her maiden grand slam title.
The 24-year-old added glory in SW19 to a runner-up finish at the French Open and Olympic silver from 2020.
Yet earlier this year she withdrew from Indian Wells early, and has revealed that the reason behind this was to be with her grandfather, who had been diagnosed with cancer and his health was deteriorating.
In an interview with Czech publication Blesk, Vondrousova has opened up on what has been an understandably difficult period, but insisted that she was still looking forward to getting out on the court in what should be a very busy few months at the French Open, Wimbledon and Olympics.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova has opened up on the death of her grandfather earlier this year
She paid a touching tribute to her grandfather, Stanislav, in an Instagram post back in March
Vondrousova has revealed she broke up with her husband Stepan Simek just nine months after he celebrated her Wimbledon triumph
‘I learned in America that he was no longer well, so I definitely wanted to see him again and say goodbye. I am very glad that I flew and that I made it. He still perceived that we were together…
‘It’s hard for me to talk about it even now. One realises what is important in the world and essential in life, that tennis is definitely not everything.
‘My grandfather was the person who stood at the very beginning of my tennis career, he was there for everything important. Without him, I would never have achieved what I have achieved in my career.
‘I was with my family, my parents and my sister. We supported and held each other, we all loved Grandpa very much.
‘And we said goodbye to him together, even though there was no public funeral.’
She added: ‘After the death of my grandfather, there was no point in flying back to America, then the Billie Jean King Cup qualification was on the agenda, where we got a wild card and did not play. So I waited until Stuttgart and my favorite clay. And I was quite good at her after such a break.’
Back in March, Vondrousova took to Instagram to pay tribute to her grandfather in a touching post including several pictures of her as a child and at her wedding day with her family.
‘Thank you for everything grandpa, you were the best,’ she wrote.
Vondrousova became the first unseeded player to win the women’s singles title at Wimbledon
Vondrousova (right) admitted that she would not have reached the heights of her career without Stanislav’s influence
Earlier this week it was revealed that Vondrousova and her husband of almost two years were getting divorced, with the tennis star admitting ‘it just didn’t work out for us’.
The 24-year-old married Stepan Simek, two years her senior and a former junior tennis player, in July 2022 after a one-year engagement.
Simek, whose promising tennis career was ended by an injury, and Vondrousova had known each since they were teenager.
The two began dating in 2016 before Simek, an IT manager in Czech Republic, proposed in August 2021, shortly after Vondrousova won silver at the Tokyo Olympics.
‘Our marriage with Stepan ended a few weeks ago, we broke up. He moved out of with the cat.
‘It just didn’t work out for us. It wasn’t what we both imagined, so we agreed not to be together anymore. Now we are formally resolving the divorce, but we have agreed on everything.’
Simek made the headlines last summer, when he missed his wife’s impressive Wimbledon run while looking after Frankie, their sphynx cat, back in Prague.
The 26-year-old was present for Vondrousova’s maiden Grand Slam final in 2019 when she lost in straight sets to Ashleigh Barty in the Roland-Garros final.
But after she beat Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3 in the semi-final, Vondrousova revealed she had texted her husband to discuss the possibility of him flying into London for the final and said they agreed to call a cat sitter.
Vondrousova admitted that tennis was ‘not everything’ after rushing home to be with her loved ones
Vondrousova’s husband stayed home in Prague during her Wimbledon run last year to look after their cat called Frankie (right)
Vondrousova admitted she is ‘looking forward’ to a busy summer period with plenty of tennis to be played in the coming months.
‘I’m looking forward! I will now play the nearest tournaments in Madrid and Rome, and in Paris in August I will defend the silver medal. The Olympic Games are once every four years, it will be an exceptional tournament. I’m slowly starting to organize a family trip so that my loved ones can cheer me on
‘In other tournaments we never know which day and on which court we will start. In Wimbledon, the defenders have it in advance, that’s a big habit.
‘I’m really looking forward to it, but I’m already starting to get pretty stressed, another match at the center, and right away in the first round. It’s clear that there will be some expectations, so I’ll try to deal with that somehow.’
