First unseeded ladies’ singles champion at Wimbledon (open era)

Markéta Vondroušová (Czechia) defeated Ons Jabeur 6–4, 6–4 on Centre Court at Wimbledon on 15 July 2023 to become the first unseeded female singles player in the open era (since 1968) to win the title at SW19. Vondroušová was ranked No.42 in the world – outside the top 32 tournament seeds – heading into Wimbledon after missing six months of the 2022 season with a wrist injury, but she made history on the grass in London by battling through six rounds and the championship match, including eye-catching wins against American fourth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals and Ukrainian wildcard Elina Svitolina in the semis before upsetting sixth seed (and 2022 runner-up) Jabeur in the final. Left-hander Vondroušová, 24, climbed to No.10 in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) rankings after lifting the trophy and pocketing £2.35 million ($3.08 million) at Wimbledon – where she’d won just one match in four previous outings (2017–19, 2021).

In 54 previous finals (1968–2022), none of the 24 different ladies’ singles winners at Wimbledon had been unseeded. Between 1968 and 2003, the champion on every occasion was ranked between No.1 and No.5, and the winner has come from outside the top 10 WTA seeds on seven occasions since then – in 2004 (Maria Sharapova, 13th), 2005 and 2007 (Venus Williams, 14th and 23rd), 2013 (Marion Bartoli, 15th), 2017 (Garbiñe Muguruza, 14th), 2018 (Angelique Kerber, 11th) and 2022 (Elena Rybakina, 17th). Williams, in 2007, was therefore the lowest-ranked ladies’ singles winner at Wimbledon before Vondroušová.

In 2019, Vondroušová reached the French Open singles final (losing to Ash Barty) after making the semi-finals of the Australian Open ladies’ doubles (with compatriot Barbora Strýcová), and at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 she collected singles silver, contesting the final with Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.

After winning Wimbledon in 2023, Vondroušová confirmed that she and her coach, Jan Hernych, would be adorned with matching “little strawberry” tattoos to celebrate her triumph in London. The player's existing array of tattoos on her arms include "No rain, no flowers" above her right elbow. After Wimbledon 2023, a fitting addition would be "No seeding, no problem"!