Wimbledon champ Marketa Vondrousova's title defense hopes in jeopardy as Czech suffers nasty fall & retires in pain during Berlin 2R
Marketa Vondrousova was forced to retire from her second-round match at the 2024 Berlin Open due to an injury. This has caused serious concerns about the Czech's title defense at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, which will begin on July 1.
Vondrousova was seeded No. 5 at the WTA 500 tournament. She began her campaign with a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win against Rebeka Masarova. The World No. 6 then faced Anna Kalinskaya in the second round on June 20.
The Czech began the match on the front foot, breaking Kalinskaya in the fourth game and racing to a 5-3 lead. However, during the ninth game, Marketa Vondrousova slipped and fell after a split step. The fall looked terrible, but after off-court medical attention, she returned to court to continue the match.
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Kalinskaya came back into the first set and leveled the score at 5-5. The match did not progress further as Vondrousova decided to retire from the match due to a right hip injury.
The timing of the injury is particularly damning as the Czech has to be in the best possible shape if she hopes to defend her title in London less than two weeks from now.
Marketa Vondrousova defeated Ons Jabeur to win Wimbledon 2023
Marketa Vondrousova entered the 2023 Wimbledon Championships after a quarterfinal appearance in Berlin and a withdrawal before the first round in Eastbourne. The Czech was unseeded and began her campaign against Peyton Stearns, whom she dispatched 6-2, 7-5.
Vondrousova then quashed the challenges of three seeded players. She defeated No. 12 seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 6-3 in the second round, No. 20 seed Donna Vekic 6-1, 7-5 in the third round, and No. 32 seed Marie Bouzkova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round to reach her maiden quarterfinal at SW19.
The Czech came up against No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in the last eight and outlasted the American 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals, where she faced a resurgent wildcard Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian had bettered top seed Iga Swiatek in her quarterfinal match.
However, Vondrousova was able to sustain Svitolina's powerful game and bettered her 6-3, 6-3 to reach her second Grand Slam final after the 2019 Roland Garros. 2022 runner-up and No. 6 seed Ons Jabeur awaited Vondrousova in the title contest, and the latter emerged victorious 6-4, 6-4 to lift her first Major trophy.
After her win in London, Vondrousova broke into the top 10 of the WTA Rankings for the first time in her career.