"Here we go again" - Marketa Vondrousova disappointed by hateful and abusive messages directed at her after early exit from China Open
Marketa Vondrousova's campaign at the 2023 China Open did not go as planned, as her stay in Beijing ended in the first round itself on October 1. Vondrousova was seeded No. 8 and expected to not face any trouble in, at least, the early stages of the tournament.
She started off well against Anhelina Kalinina, taking the first set 6-1. However, the Ukrainian leveled the contest in the second set and blew Vondrousova out of the competition in the third to win the match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
This loss made the Czech No. 1 the biggest star to exit the China Open in the first round. After the match, Vondrousova took to social media to share an image of hateful and explicit-ladden comments and messages that she received from fans after her loss in Beijing.
Many ridiculed the 24-year-old and questioned how she won the Wimbledon Championships in July with "worst service" and "little talent." Some hurled abuses at her family, dubbed her a "cheater," and even asked the WTA to investigate Vondroudsova for losing the match on purpose to get money in some illicit manner.
She shared a collage of these messages on an Instagram Story and calmly reacted to them, writing:
"Here we go again."
Here's how Marketa Vondrousova has performed since her Wimbledon triumph
Marketa Vondrousova finally tasted Grand Slam glory at the 2023 Wimbledon Championship, where she defeated Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
As a result, she broke into the top 10 for the first time in her career, briefly taking the World No. 6 spot. In London, she beat Peyton Stearns, Veronika Kudermetova, Donna Vekic, Marie Bouzkova, Jessica Pegula, and Elina Svitolina before getting past Jabeur to lift his title.
Since then, the 2020 Olympic silver medalist has performed relatively well and at par with her ranking on the WTA Tour, beating the player she is expected to beat.
She reached the third round at that Canadian Open as the No. 9 seed (losing to No. 6 seed Coco Gauff) and the quarterfinals at the Western and Southern Open (losing to No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek) and the US Open (losing to No. 17 seed Madison Keys). This means that she has done well enough to hold onto her top-10 spot.
These impressive results of late have also put Marketa Vondrousova in firm contention for one of the eight spots at the WTA Finals in Cancun. The Czech currently occupies the No. 6 spot in the race to the Finals, with 3,671 points. Karolina Muchova is in the No. 7 spot, and Ons Jabeur is at No. 8.