Live from Wimbledon Day 13 - Noskova conquers nerves to win it all

0:10Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast live from Wimbledon and presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. And we are coming to you tonight just minutes after the speeches and the ceremony on Centre Court have concluded following an absolutely wild ride of a women's final here at Wimbledon. Wild build up for us also to this show. Ted being chucked across the desk just just moments ago. But the wild ride of the women's final won by newly anointed Wimbledon champion Linda Nozkova. We sometimes hold back a bit from using the word choke on this show because it's just such a brutal and damning word.

0:57But I do feel comfortable declaring today that in the words of the great Mary Carrillo, Linda Nozkova choked and won anyway. Which is pretty much the greatest feat in sport or in life, isn't it? To fall over and get back up. Yeah, I think if you don't, in inverted commas, choke in the Wimbledon final when you're trying to serve it out, when you've never done it before in your life, when it's the biggest moment that you've ever had in your young life, and it's certainly the biggest tennis moment that you'll ever have, I think it would be more surprising. It really would. And I think it's the most human thing in the world.

1:37And the manner in which it happened, somewhat forced by our opponent, but also the vulnerability on display, the emotions and the nerves and the fragility, and then the strength. The strength to accept it, to suffer, to reset, and to go again. And put yourself in the firing line of it all over again. I mean, it could have happened twice on the same day for her and she banished it in the same day. I think it was a choke and it was the most glorious of redemptions. It was a three-act play, this tennis match. Yeah, it was a straightforward 6-2, 6-3 win with an aberration in the middle, wasn't it?

2:22No wonder we weren't sure what was going to happen in this match because in the end, everything happened. You know, is Mukava going to look spent? Yeah, she absolutely is. Is Noskova going to bully her with that brilliant, secure game that she's got right now? Yeah, she's going to do that. Is Noskova going to get tight in her first Wimbledon Grandstand final? Yes, that is going to happen as well. Is Mukava going to start to outplay her and look like maybe she can win it? Yes, that'll happen too. And then, you know, that all happened and we're in the third set. and it was the question is where do we go from here so for for Noskova to ensure that the final set looks so much like the first set after the well yeah choke in the second set when she didn't win a game for about 50 minutes absolutely extraordinary reset feat from Linda Noskova to win this 49 and a half minutes without winning a game for Linda Noskova after having five championship points.

3:26I just think that's the comeback of the century, quite frankly. Like, unbelievable stuff. Unbelievable mental resilience. And going into that third set, the least likely scenario seemed to me like just a fairly straightforward run-of-the-mill 6-3 set for either of them. And yet that is what Linda Noskova delivered. Yeah, having gone off the court, with her fingers in her ears because she couldn't bear to hear the crowd anymore celebrating her opponents celebrating her own collapse and it had happened on two successive changeovers when it was just not slipping away it was collapsing away it was just the whole thing was coming apart at the seams for her and and this this player who had been so rock steady who'd been so secure she did she did when she was closing in on victory what I what I worried she might do at the start which was sort of freeze again I do think it's completely understandable that that that would happen when it means that much to you but to to look like you're I mean it looked like Jana Novotna that I remember in 1993 who led the final set against Steffi Graf 4-1 and had points for 5-1 and then didn't win another game.

4:49It looked like that, that that's the sort of mental collapse that was happening, emotional collapse and she left the court and I felt so sorry for her. At that point I'm thinking okay well no matter what we've got an incredible final, this is a wonderful final and And I don't mind who wins. I have, you know, at the start of the match, I emotionally was sort of drawn to Mukava being 29 and having had all these injury problems and Noskova's young and she's going to get other chances. But when somebody goes through that sort of hell on court, honestly, I wanted to cry for her really. And I was sort of just hoping that she didn't just tailspin away.

5:34And I think that that would have been a completely understandable thing to have happened in the third set because Mukova had started really badly in this match and was playing poorly, frankly, and being bossed. And then she found a game. And for Noskova to lose her game at the same time as Mukova found hers and then to still go off the court and find a way to reverse that, I think is one of the great feats that you'll see all year in tennis. Absolutely hats off to Noskova for doing that because I don't even think that Mookova played really badly in the final set. I think she played fine. Yeah, it was one sloppy-ish game, wasn't it, at the start of the third set that proved decisive.

6:18I haven't had the chance to fact-check this. Just come in on the chat, Megan reporting that ESPN had said that when Nozkova, I think they've already spoken to Linda Nozkova and she perhaps told them this, said that when she went to the bathroom between the second and third sets that she stared at the trophy. I don't know if the trophy is in the loos in the Wimbledon clubhouse or just sort of the Venus rose water dish deserves better on route I assume on route to the loos if it's not obvious we've never been into that very privileged area of the clubhouse but that's quite a baller thing to do isn't it to stare down the trophy kind of in your in your lowest ebb wow it's like there are there There were some Grand Sams that put the trophy on the court, didn't they, during the match.

7:08Yeah, it is one of the great resets that I've ever seen. Yeah, Patton would love this, wouldn't she? Loved, she would have loved it. And that's it, because she had the game to win this. She absolutely had the game to win this match. She had shown that by putting herself in the position that she was in. 6-2-5-2. I agree with you. I think Mukova was, it seems to me like everything had caught up a bit with Mukova. To me she looked a bit sluggish and a step slow and she wasn't cracking the forehand in a way that she has been all tournament. We've talked so much about it. It was like, well where is that shot?

7:48But similarly, Noskova was playing like a dream to begin with. It felt like she raised her level for this final. We were worried about potential nerves. Well she actually upped it at the start of this match through the first half of it and there were so many moments where she was kind of out mukava-ing mukava there was one nasty nasty slice backhand with with two hands she hit it as like a short slice drop shot combination having done a drop shot lob earlier in the rally i mean to do a drop shot bring your opponent in who scoops it up really well and you to do a lob volley over her head from ankle height and then she gets to that and puts a good ball in and your put away is not to blast the ball, it is to slice it past the arch slicer.

8:36I mean, that is serious talent and understanding of what's required. And I think the thing is, until she got nervous, her touch was exemplary. She seemed to come out and have her touch and timing from ball one. And that's her superpower, really, the combination of power and touch. it's such a weapon to have at your disposal because she does have big power that can knock you back and the strike I think of her ball is just hard to deal with but it's so underrated the touch she has and she had it beautifully combining and I don't know about you but I thought it was over I really did I didn't sense the Mukhova comeback at all No You know when it was She was running out of time for a start Yeah, I mean, Mukova serving down 2-5, that was when the first match points came.

9:31There were three of them in that game. And Noskova hit two returns out on the first two match points. And then Mukova had a lovely drop shot to save the third. But even when Mukova held then, that was the first point where I thought, OK, this could be shifting. But even when she held Mukova, she got this enormous ovation. And she didn't really respond to it. I still thought, oh, she's not got much in the tank here. Like, she's going to need something from down the other end in this next game. And then that 5-3 game is... It's one of the great games. One of the great games. I mean, the perfect example of why we must never lose Deuce.

10:13Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because this was going back and forth, back and forth. Noskova could find the serve to save the break point. She kept doing it. She kept going down break point Noskova and hitting an ace. Particularly out wide. Wide. Out wide to the advantage course. Usually the one I've been going on the bat is the swinging slice serve the other way. This one she was hitting flat at an angle. And she would always win. She won three of those points in a row. Well, two of them with aces and one of them with a totally unreturnable serve. And meanwhile, the other side, Mookova's playing lights out from the baseline and just keeping it going.

10:50It was incredible. And then the one time Noskova does get to match point on the ad side, she aborts her ball toss and hits a double fold. And at that moment, that was when I really thought, oh my goodness, like the wheels might be about to come off here. And when she didn't get out of that game, double faulting again on break point, that was then when she walked to the chair for the first time and put her fingers in her ears, 5-4 down. that was the moment where I thought oh dear we we are witnessing potentially like a huge choke here she still had a match point in the next game yeah with Mukova again uh serving and that was the one that Mukova saved incredibly well she dug out this low ball and hit a forehand winner off it whipped it for a winner and held that game Mukova and got it to five all and then by that point Noskova was really, really hitting a lot of unforced errors and missing.

11:47And the last two games of that set went by pretty quickly. And yeah, we just witnessed in that period one of the most dramatic sequences in a final that I can remember. Just going back to that first set for a moment, it was pretty shocking how poor Mookova was, right? I was slightly worried about her physically just because of how she was at the end of that golf match how she was in the press conference did place a bit of doubt in my mind she was tetchy in that press conference indicating maybe she was a bit anxious about how she was feeling and what that would mean for the final I don't know, that isn't what she said in press but it was certainly a tetchier version of Mookiver than I was expecting and we don't know yet whether it was nerves or exhaustion or a niggle or a combination of any or all of those things, but it was such a shadow of the Karolina Mukherjee we were expecting, even allowing for nerves in our expectations.

12:52She was so sluggish. The forehand was totally missing. I don't think she trusted herself to do the slice and dice touch game. So she was relying on points in the back of the court and she had this forehand that was just a go-to place for errors for Linda Noskova who was so serene, seemingly so serene, down the other end of the court. I hadn't been expecting that from Mukova David. No, and it makes me wonder, when I think back to some of the things we've witnessed over the last couple of months where somebody has come through just an aging match and then has taken a long time to sort of wake up in the next one.

13:38You know, obviously, Minsk is a seriously extreme example of that. Five points in the set against, was it, Alex Diminor? I'm still not. After he got carried off the court. Flavio Caballi losing seven games in a row and then sort of waking up this tournament and playing really well. I don't know, But I can definitely think that that might be something there. But I also think just sort of starting off a match, the biggest match, well, one of the biggest matches of your career, with the stillness that you told us about, Matt, from last year. Catherine and I were out there at the start of the match.

14:16I was there. I mean, you know, I didn't want to breathe because I felt like I was going to put people off or something. You know, it just feels really, you're quite clenched, you know. there's so much silence and um and i think it would be and i was but the thing is when we did our preview show today i was expecting that from noshkova and that's not what happened at all she looked as though she was just playing in the park the way she came out so maybe she was in impacted a bit like and maybe she just sort of warmed up and loosened up um mukova but i but the way it looked as the match has gone on and how well she ended up playing because honestly around five three she couldn't from then on for the rest of the set she couldn't miss a ball every every ground strike even when she's on the stretch hitting it hard she's got just the right amount of loop on it to put it just inside the baseline and i so i suspect it was more nerves based but yeah it could be it could be a combination but it was a shock to me as well i I thought, surely the one who's going to feel that is Noshkova more than Mukova, but I was wrong.

15:24It's interesting when you think about how Mukova played her other grandstand final as well, and actually quite similar in terms of its match arc. She had this crazy semi-final at the French Open a few years ago when she beat Sabalenka, saved a match point and then was quite flat at the start of the French Open final I think she was 6-2-3 love down to Svantec which is eager Svantec in a French Open final Similar though and I think Svantec was brilliant but similar, it took a while to get going I feel like we'll be saying, but it's Linda Noskova in a Wimbledon final at some point It took her a while to get going and she was actually closer to beating Svantec than she was beating Noskova I think she went up a break in the final set of that one But it did take her a moment then.

16:13And I sometimes, I always read into players who've beaten a series of great players to get to a final. I always take that as a tremendous positive. And of course it is. It shows you're playing at this level and everything. But I think it takes a lot out of you. And yeah, I think it just all maybe caught up with Muka for a little bit today at the start of the match. The road she's had to get here, you know, like stressful matches against big players. we talk about how these players have to raise their game to play the big players Mukova has not been able to like coast through this tournament at all I think I think it's deceiving because her tennis is so kind of stylish it doesn't maybe look like it's taking that much out of her but I think to me that my read on it was that she she she needed a spark of energy somewhere in this match and because she came out a bit flat, a combination of everything she'd been through to get there and I'm sure nerves as well of that first Wimbledon final.

17:16But then when she did find the spark, she played really well, as David said, for that little spell, obviously helped out by Noskova's nerves. But then I felt like she wasn't able to then push on again in the third, you know. So, yeah, it'd be interesting to hear what she says in the press conference, but I felt like fatigue. And again, I think about Anissa Mova last year. She talked about how tired she felt on Wimbledon finals day, having won a dramatic semi-final. Obviously, it was nerves as well. But she said, I was drained and exhausted. And it's a lot to... It's always hard to bounce back from a big win, let alone to bounce back to your summit.

18:03So again, credit to Noskova. for handling all of that because she's experiencing similar things. It will be interesting to hear what both of them, but I think in particular, given how this match went and how it started to hear what Mukhova had to say, we heard what she had to say on the court and it, I mean, she was astonishingly composed and eloquent in that speech, even delivered some comic timing, like perfect comic timing with congratulations to my ex-friend, Linda. just sublime but it was it was quite onzjaburi wasn't it in terms of levels of heartbreak yeah that those two speeches were i mean i had a tear in my eye after noshka but um but yeah mukava she does make you feel for her good bad everything really i don't know she's got a really nice way about her which which was probably why yesterday's press conference was a bit of a bit jarring really because she she just wasn't in the mood really for anything um but or two days ago but maybe that's maybe that's what happens when you've just been pushed to the limit the way she was um but yeah it was a great speech it does make me feel a little differently about her future prospects um yeah uh in terms of i guess i was somebody who turned around after jabber the second time and just thought no no i believe she will do this i mean kim cloisters did lead you down that path yes but it but i do think emotion ends up talking in those situations and it look i i'm a massive believer in mukava's game and a lot of it is if she stays fit this if she stays fit that Well, that's a big question mark, isn't it?

19:55Because of her past history. It's for anybody, but particularly her. But I also think that is two finals now that she hasn't won. French Open and here, 29. I think there are more chances in there for her, for sure. She's definitely got the game, the base game. I think she showed that and she can kind of compete on all the surfaces. so that gives you a lot of chances. But the field is deep. The field is really good. And you also have to find a way to not go a set and three love down or a set and five two down before you start finding your very best. Got to figure that out in the big final. Easy to say, tough to do.

20:43Does it affect how you view Mukovi's chances going forward, Matt? not the fact that she lost this but the the way that she lost it

20:56not really because i i i wouldn't have said oh she'll definitely win majors after this i think even had she won it i wouldn't necessarily have thought oh she's gonna this is gonna open the floodgates you know as david said the field's deep she's had injury concerns like she's never I felt like a lock for a major to me, just given everything. I mean, the field's deep from Czechia alone. True. There's Valantova, there's Bartonkova coming through. I mean, those are just the ones that we know about. Presumably there are, you know, 15-year-olds coming through. I believe some Czechs were in the junior girls doubles final.

21:35Of course. Watch out for them. Yeah. I think she'll I mean look she ended on a defiant note didn't she of her speech which I liked you know she was determined and saying I'm going to come back here and I think she will I think she's going to keep giving herself shots but whether she actually wins one I think is hard to say What about Linda Nozkova? we have had 10 different Wimbledon champions in 10 years and 10 different conversations about whether they will win multiple Wimbledons and at the time because we've just watched them win Wimbledon it has felt like well yeah of course but it's not as simple as that is it she's 21 she's by far the youngest of those that we've had that discussion about yeah well she's the youngest winner since Kvitova who then did go on to win another one and I think she's you know she's got the game most suited to grass I would say I think there's been a few there's been a few in there who have been quite quite surprising champions Shvontek for example Vondrosheva has never really done anything on grass before she won it here, whereas Noskova, you know, I think everyone who watched that game could tell you that that does suit this surface.

23:11So does she feel to you like somebody who's always going to have a chance at Wimbledon and will probably maybe win more Wimbledons, but not necessarily be the same threat elsewhere? I think she can be a threat on the hard courts. Yeah? Yeah, I do. look I don't really necessarily see her as winning a handful or more majors but if you ask me will Noska win another major I know it's always easy after they've just won one but right here right now I would say I would say yes. What holds you back and David I don't know if you agree feel free to disagree or answer this same question, but what holds you back from saying Lyndon Oshkovic could become world number one now and be dominant and win other slams in the near future?

24:03What holds you back from that? I think part of it is the fact that I think this is a game that requires a lot of confidence. I think she's in a great run of form at the moment. she felt dangerous coming in to this tournament but you know we have seen enough of Noskova to know that it can it can go off um that's interesting I also think there were still bits of the movement that can be exploited and and and that kind of thing um and the fields deep as as David said like it's really hard to win a lot a lot of majors um but she's very good She's very good. The confidence and form thing is interesting, isn't it?

24:51Because obviously she's the first champion here that's won a warm-up tournament since Sharapova. Sharapova, 04, yeah. It's been a long time. Matthew would like everybody to know that he got that in the quiz earlier. It took him a while, but he did get it. He's fist-pumping behind the camera. I was setting up. What quiz is this? Just who was the last person, who was the last female player to win Wimbledon having won a warm-up event. Oh, right. And it was Sharapova who won... Birmingham. Birmingham in 2004. How'd I got that? How'd I got that? Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing her now face some of the rest of this deep field on hard courts.

25:39I want to see her again. Sabalenka, Svante, Goff. you know I know we've seen it before but when you've got one of these under your yeah that's it we don't know the effect of being a Grand Sam champion she might she might this might be all this might sort of fuel her confidence yeah might unleash her she might be even better than I realized slow release carbohydrates now in terms of in terms of confidence you know Hannah in the chat is surprised there isn't like 12 in a row type chat about Nozkova off the back of this run in this performance well I have to I have to hand that over to David Well, I mean, I haven't got a pint in front of me for a star.

26:15No, listen. I definitely feel like I understand. It's a bit like that light bulb moment you had a year ago. I don't feel like I've properly watched Noshkaver until this week. And maybe that's a dereliction of duty. And it's not that I haven't seen her play, but I really get the game now. I understand why she's special. Why? Because it's such an incredible combination of power and finesse. It really does have good hands. There were some things that Mukova was throwing in there that she was just dealing with. You know, whether it was slicing back a slice with even more cut on it. And picking things up off her toes so she didn't get forced back.

26:59Once Mukova found her baseline game, she held her ground, Nozkova, and she gets deep in the knees. I said last night that she's sort of quietly devastating, like a quiet killer. And it was even more apparent to me today because I was talking to Christopher Clary, the former correspondent of the New York Times, who's seen a lot of players the last 30 years in his role. I sat behind his hat. You did? Nice hat. Lovely Panama hat to sit behind. I was slouching because I was worried about people behind me. I was sort of leaning on David like this to peer around the hat. Anyway. But we were just talking about her game and I was really quite taken aback by it, you know, what it could do to opponents.

27:58And he was saying, you know, it's kind of almost similar to Mukova but maybe not just as elegant. You know, it's not kind of got the pizzazz to it in the same way, but it's so effective. And you don't hear her. I said to him, you don't get this visceral feeling watching her because it's not accompanied by sound, either from, she doesn't grunt when she hits tennis balls. It doesn't even sound loud off the strings. like when she hits the ball there's not this popping thunderclap sound and you don't but you don't hear a footwork at all really either she's just a sort of quiet player and then you you suddenly realize you've just lost the game if you're her opponent and i'm you must wonder well that didn't look like you were trying to hit that hard why have i just lost the point it doesn't Look to me.

28:53Oh, here we go. Go on, guys. We'll be closing around 15 minutes. Please make your way to the exit gates and take all your belongings with you. We hope you've enjoyed your day here at Wimbledon and wish you a pleasant and safe journey home. Thank you.

29:15Marks out of 10? Marks out of 10? Nine. Nine. Nine. I think that's generous, but I will take it. I would say seven. Okay. I was worried about six. It was a generous three the other night. So on we go. We've got one more chance to hit a ten. I thought you wished people a brave journey home. Sometimes public transport is tough. Absolutely. Yeah. Good luck on TFL, everyone. Where were we, David? I was going to say, to my eye, which is very much untrained, but technically, Nozkovic looks so sound. I'm not sure you'd change anything technically about that game. And to me, probably her biggest strength, which we probably should have mentioned before this, is the serve.

30:07Yeah. If you serve like that, you give yourself such a platform. and the fact that she found it again in the final set you know like that helped her I think settle like I think it it helps you get back on track if you've had a wayward moment like she did if you if you know that okay if I can just go back to focusing on getting my serve in and rolling through my service games it gives you such a platform there's so many players out there who have to battle to hold serve and it causes a lot of stress and she can take that element of the game away which is a great thing to have especially on the WCA tour you know so that is an element that I think does I probably should give more credit to and maybe elevate her even more on my mind because of that because that is a separator that she has from a lot of other players in the field.

31:03Mukava started to just get onto the slice out wide serve a bit in the second set she sort of started to be ready for it and take an extra step it was quite interesting laura robson was saying on the bbc in the first set that she was giving noskova way too much space yeah and honestly i i think it's the best slice out wide serve on the tour is it the best serve on tour hers or a back in his i'd still say a back in it because i don't think you get the double faults i don't think you get i don't think it's patchy in the same way it's a it's a different kind of but I've never seen any I mean those slice out wide serves she hits them at 85 miles an hour again it's one of those soft don't even hear it and oh dear I can't reach it serves and again it's an element that is effective on the grass the shooting through okay she can get that whip usually it's the lefties from the outside that end up getting talked about but this is a righty from the juice side doing it I can't wait to see her I thought that serve would be pretty devastating on a hardcore.

32:06The thing is, I, you know, I feel like, like I hope that saying that we think she can win more majors, just not like over five or so. I really don't see that as selling her shorts. Like if you, if you won. That would be a good amount. Only Hannah sees that as selling. I'm not. If you've won three or four majors, like you're a hell of a, Sabalenka's won four. Yeah. And think how much winning she's done and dominating of the tour. like it's so hard to win these if she can win multiple like that it makes you a hell of a player especially with this generation of players up against you but but i she does fascinate me now because i don't really i mean my expectation is that she picks this up and runs with it and becomes more dangerous you know i think i think it'll embolden her as a as a champion you know to see herself in that way um but there's you do it does also come with a lot doesn't it you know suddenly you know hearing from Maya Walenska the other day about just how how much her life changed just by reaching the final that's going to happen to Noskova now and so we don't really know how that will affect her um but I definitely sense somebody who's got real desire to to just keep improving and be the best she can be.

33:29And I think it's a game with enormous potential. Talking about a Grand Slam champion as having enormous potential, but that's how it feels. Australia will be interesting, won't it? Because, I mean, it's quite possible she just carries this on and rides the way through to the US Open. But it's also quite possible there is, there's a letdown, you know, I could see us sort of giving her a free pass for the US Open. but Australian Open, like it's enough time, I think, to have really processed and bedded in to a new status in the tennis world. And she has historically played really well in Australia.

34:07That was her first big breakthrough. I think it really suits her down there. So I could see... She filmed out there. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. A couple of years ago. Yeah. But that's the thing, which women's major isn't interesting. We're going into the US Open with knowing that two of Sabalenka, Sviontek and Goff this year will go slamless. And if you'd said that at the start of the year, you probably wouldn't have expected it. And we've had Rabatkin a winner major, Andreva. Think of all the majors Andreva's got to win. you know like there's not room for these people to win all the majors if everybody who I've said is going to win X number of majors did what you'd have to have about 12 of them a year I think we've had Matt you picked Pegula for the US Open long ago so that's nailed on Anissa Mova's going to win some yeah where this depth picture is not a great scene for Anissa Mova is it she's on holiday do we think Anissa Mova's still going to win one keep the faith I've got the faith that was trotting out a mantra I've got the faith yes I wonder what the chat thinks are you worried about how many good players there are but there was a lot of good players last year as well and she still got to back to back finals it's tough for people like I believe mate Paulini isn't it Paulini's catching straights again It's sympathetic strays.