Marketa Vondrousova already has more tattoos than your average navy officer.
But after indelibly inking her name into the Wimbledon record books with a history-making win on Saturday, she revealed she is going to get another one to celebrate and that her poor coach, Jan Mertl, must get one too.
The Czech star had bet Mertl that if she ever won a Grand Slam he must get some body art. And on the eve of her first wedding anniversary she did just that, beating Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 to become the first unseeded women’s winner here at the All England Club.
Vondrousova’s husband, Stepan, will no doubt accompany them to the tattooists, having spent most of the Championships at home looking after their cat. But he and Vondrousova’s little sister flew in to cheer her on to a victory she admitted she’d toast with beer.
The 24-year-old, who missed Wimbledon last year with a wrist injury but has trousered £2.35million for this win, said: “I don’t know really what’s happening now.
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“After everything I have been through, I had a cast on this time last year, it’s just amazing I can stand here and hold this trophy. Tennis is crazy. Tomorrow is the first anniversary of our wedding, it’s amazing to have you guys being with me.
“I’ve enjoyed the two weeks so much — it has been exhausting, but I’m so proud of myself. I made a bet with my coach that if I win a Grand Slam he’s going to get a tattoo as well, so we will go tomorrow.
Marketa Vondrousova beat Ons Jabeur in the women's singles final at Wimbledon (Getty Images)“I’m going to tell him what he is going to get — he’d better not back down. Tonight I’m going to have some beer. It was an exhausting last two weeks.”
Quite simply, Vondrousova handled the pressure of the final better than Jabeur, who broke down in tears as she was handed the runners-up trophy by the now Princess of Wales for a second successive year.
Last time, she was beaten by Elena Rybakina and this time, she admitted, was even harder. Having beaten four previous Grand Slam winners to reach this final, Jabeur said: “This is very, very tough and I’m going to look ugly in the photos.
“This is the most painful loss of my career. It’s painful because I already lost two finals, and this is the third one. It’s painful because you feel so close to achieving something that you want, and actually you’re back to square one.
“It’s going to be a tough day for me but I’m not going to give up and I’m going to come back stronger. I want to thank my team for believing in me. We’re going to make it one day, I promise you. I promise one day I will come back and win this tournament.”
There were an astonishing 10 breaks of serve in the 80-minute match, with Jabeur falling to hold on six occasions. The Tunisian moved into a 3-1 lead in both sets but it wasn’t her day, it was Vondrousova’s.
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