“For a while I was afraid if it was all true. But I had so many people here and so many of them already bitten me that it’s true. I’m looking forward to enjoying it now. It’s unbelievable what happened to us it worked,” said Strýcová.
The 37-year-old native of Pilsen returned to the courts after a maternity break this April. During the final against the Australian-Belgian pair Storm Hunter, Elise Mertens often encouraged herself. After the used match point, which sealed the victory 7:5, 6:4, she fell with joy on the Wimbledon lawn. “I didn’t believe that Shu-Wei would play such an angle during the match ball. At that moment, I just fell to my knees and couldn’t believe it. I looked at her, at my whole family, and it was unbelievable. An unreal feeling,” Strýcová said.
Experience comes out on top!
37-year-olds Su-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Strycova are the Ladies’ Doubles champions after coming past Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens in the final#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/MsOxrNipIT
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 16, 2023
This year’s doubles title was higher than four years ago. Even in terms of the circumstances that preceded it. “There is a big story behind this, which includes the fact that I gave birth to my beloved son. In addition, we did not play with Shu-Wei for a very long time. This fairy tale is written to the end and has a happy ending. I am very happy for it, because I am very wished,” added Strýcová.
During the finals, her friend, team members, sister, niece and coach David Kotyza supported her in the players’ box. “He stayed here with me because of this match. I really appreciate it because we had an incredible success here in 2019. There were important people that I wanted to have there,” said the former world number one in doubles.
He is about to celebrate the success properly. She was the first to look forward to the Champions Ball, where she also looked forward to meeting the winner of the singles, Markéta Vondroušová. “We still haven’t seen each other after her triumph, but we wrote to each other. When you let me go, we’ll go to the ball and see each other there,” smiled Strýcová. “There will definitely be long celebrations. We’ll probably have a few drinks,” she added.
However, despite a successful run after Wimbledon, she still wants to complete her farewell tour as planned. “Yes, I’m still planning the tournament in Prague and the US Open. It all has to go through my head, but I still have it planned,” added the Czech tennis player.