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Czech Republic's Linda Noskova celebrates with the Venus Rosewater Dish after defeating her compatriot Karolina Muchova during their Women's Singles Final match of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
Linda Nosková put a dramatic second-set collapse behind her to win her first Grand Slam title in a wild Wimbledon final on Saturday.
The winner of the all-Czech clash between Nosková and Karolína Muchová was guaranteed to be the third woman from the central European country to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish in the last four years.
But it was another former Czech champion, the late Jana Novotná, that came to mind when Nosková blew a 5-2 lead in the second set and five match points to send the contest to a decider.
Novotná’s tears on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after she squandered an apparently decisive advantage against Steffi Graf in the 1993 final remains one of Wimbledon’s most famous moments.
Novotná had to wait until 1998 for her cathartic winning moment but 21-year-old Nosková, playing in her first major final, impressively put the disappointment behind her to claim a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory.
She is the youngest women’s champion since another Czech, Petra Kvitová, who was watching from the Royal Box, in 2011 and follows in the footsteps of 2023 champion Markéta Vondroušová and 2024 winner Barbora Krejčíková.
For just over an hour, this appeared to be one of Wimbledon’s most straightforward finals, with Nosková handling her maiden major showpiece with aplomb and dominating her more experienced compatriot, who lost to Iga Świątek in the French Open final in 2023.
Leading 6-2 5-2, Nosková was on the brink, and Muchová had to scramble with everything she had to force the ninth seed to try to serve it out, saving three match points as the crowd willed a contest to break out.
Little did they know what was about to unfold. Nosková moved 30-0 ahead in the next game and to within two points of victory, then a fourth chance arrived and she double-faulted.
Muchová created an astonishing seven break points, three of which Nosková saved with aces, before finally her resistance ran out.
Still Nosková had the scoreboard pressure and a fifth match point arrived in Muchová’s next service game but once again the 10th seed had the answers and incredibly she made it five games in a row to level the contest.
Nosková headed back to her chair with her head in her hands before leaving the court for the most important bathroom break of her career.
Kvitová was one of seven former champions in the Royal Box along with the likes of Maria Sharapova, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, and all would have empathised with the position Nosková found herself in.
But the 21-year-old had showed impressive poise all through her run, saving a match point of her own in the third round against Sorana Cirstea, and she knew how important the start of the deciding set was.
Had Muchová taken any of three break points in the opening game, the outcome might have been different, but Nosková fought off the challenge to break the sequence of games against her and began to find her flowing shots again.
Muchová wowed the crowd with a between-the-legs shot in the fifth game but Nosková had the last laugh as she moved, once again, into a 5-2 lead.
Nosková is not your average 21-year-old tennis player. A passionate environmentalist, she spent part of her off-season last year volunteering at a school in Tanzania, keeping her profession a secret.
Maybe such worldly perspective helped, for this time she did not blink, sending down an ace to bring up a sixth match point and this time taking it thanks to another unreturnable serve before collapsing to the court in triumph – and relief.
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Kate, Princess of Wales, presents the Venus Rosewater Dish to Czech Republic's Linda Noskova after defeating her compatriot Karolina Muchova in the Women's Singles Final match of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
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Czech Republic's Linda Noskova celebrates defeating her compatriot Karolina Muchova during their Women's Singles Final match of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. John Walton/PA Wire/dpa
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