WATCH: Donna Vekic overwhelmed by emotions, starts crying tears of joy after reaching maiden Grand Slam SF at Wimbledon 2024
Donna Vekic pulled off the most important win of her career on Tuesday, overcoming Lulu Sun at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships to reach the maiden Grand Slam semifinal of her career. The Croatian was understandably overwhelmed by emotions, and broke down in tears of joy at her on-court interview afterwards.
On Center Court, it was Sun who got the initial breakthrough, as she took the opening set 7-5 to move within one set of her maiden Slam semifinal. However, Vekic took control of proceedings from there on, taking the second set 6-4 to force a decider.
With all to play for in the final set, the 28-year-old stamped her authority over the qualifier, winning the set 6-1 in an emphatic display to seal the win. After exchanging a warm hug with Sun, Vekic celebrated with the fans at SW19, blowing kisses to the crowd.
Vekic's team, meanwhile, exchanged hugs among themselves in another joyous display of emotions. As soon as she returned to her bench, the significance of the moment appeared to have caught up with the Croat, who silently started weeping.
Vekic reached a career-high ranking of World No. 19 in 2019, only to be hit with unfortunate injuries after that. She had to undergo knee surgery at the start of the 2021 season, and fell out of the top 100 due to her prolonged absence.
After a second injury crisis in 2022, the 28-year-old dipped even lower, going as low as World No. 112. Since then, Donna Vekic has been on the comeback road, and is currently ranked No. 37 in the WTA rankings.
At her on-court interview after the win over Sun, Vekic was reminded about her journey back to the top, which made her even more emotional. The Croatian broke down in tears, and looked to her players' box for strength. She credited them for having her back through the painful ordeal, stating:
"I have a full box of people up there and without them, I wouldn’t be here."
Vekic, most notably, is coached by Pam Shriver, former doubles World No. 1. Shriver reached as high as World No. 3 in singles, and reached three semifinals at Wimbledon. Her best Slam run came at the US Open, when she reached the final of the 1978 edition.
Donna Vekic to take on either Jasmine Paolini or Emma Navarro in Wimbledon SF
Following her win over Lulu Sun, Donna Vekic will take on either Jasmine Paolini or Emma Navarro in the semifinals of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. The duo are set to battle each other in the quarterfinals later on Tuesday.
Should she reach the final, Vekic is likely to come up against fourth seed and former champion Elena Rybakina (quarterfinal vs Elina Svitolina) in the summit clash. In the final quarterfinal clash, Barbora Krejcikova will go up against another French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko.