Watching Karolína Muchová glide and crush her way to the big title her tennis had so long promised, but never delivered, laid bare the beautiful contradictions of the sport.
It can look effortless, as the 29-year-old mostly did through Sunday’s 6-4, 7-5 win over Victoria Mboko at the Qatar Open, but it is not.
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It can look natural, as a WTA 1000 title does on such a talented player’s resumé, but it is not.
It can look predestined, as if what players deserve will be doled out to them. It, as Muchová knows better than anyone, is not.
In the six years between her first WTA Tour title and her second, the Czech established herself as one of the most devastatingly elegant players in the world. Finesse and control are the hallmarks of her game, but there is brutality to go with them, especially on a forehand which she hits much harder and heavier than it might first appear.
She reached four more finals, including at the 2023 French Open, in which she had Iga Świątek on the brink the year after receiving medical advice to quit tennis entirely because of injuries. She lost that one, and all the others too.
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Then came more injuries, which have long been the limiting factor for Muchová: her body has been unable to withstand the demands her talent has put on it. That has not just made her miss matches — the cumulative impact of so many comebacks and minor issues has lessened the natural potency of her game.
When she returned to tennis in June 2024 after wrist surgery, she could not even hit a two-handed backhand. When she made that return, Świątek posted on X: “Good to have you back!”
Her peers revere her; legends of the game, like seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin and 18-time champion Martina Navratilova, see her as a star who should be winning majors. Tennis, which Muchová knows better than anyone, does not do “should.” It pays no heed to what players deserve, within matches and through careers, no matter how good they might be.
“I would say I nearly forgot the winning feeling because it’s been really quite a while,” she said in a news conference after lifting the trophy in Doha.
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Against Mboko, the 19-year-old Canadian, Muchová had to withstand what most players experience: the sensation that the match is not on their racket. Mboko can cycle through styles with the same apparent effortlessness that Muchová hits a drop shot, or scuds across the baseline like a hovercraft. One moment she is retrieving every ball; the next moment she is cracking every second shot for a winner no matter where she hits it from.
Mboko also plays at a frightening pace, with barely a pause between first and second serves and even from point to point. When she is rolling, the effect is compounding: Her opponents feel they have no respite and defeat comes quickly.
It can also go the other way. Muchová won the first set relatively serenely. From 4-2 down in the second set, she won eight of nine points in quick time to return to parity. The break to get the chance to serve for the title was hard-earned; the final game was as quick as one can be. Changing tempo is one of Muchová’s great skills, and she tries to bring variety to every match.
“It’s who I am and how I like to play, what fills me up on the court,” she said in a phone interview last year. “It’s just me. I wouldn’t like to play any other way — even though sometimes it’s too much.”
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The “too much” most often appears as a loss of rhythm — if something goes slightly awry, it can spiral. At the 2024 U.S. Open, Muchová played beautifully all the way to the semifinals and even more so during hers, against Jessica Pegula of the U.S. She led 6-1, 2-0 with a break point for 3-0, having made Pegula “look like a beginner” in the American’s words. Then she missed the kind of volley she can make blindfolded, and the entire match turned. Pegula won 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Her most recent final, at the 2024 China Open in which she beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and home favorite Zheng Qinwen in succession before falling to Coco Gauff in straight sets, was a different kind of loss. Not a case of too much, but a case of too good. Muchová was waiting for the chance to be on the other side of the equation, and seized it against Mboko.
“I’m feeling in the past that I was playing great tennis and I can take the win as well, but I never did,” Muchová said in Doha.
“I played against quality opponents that had a great day on that day. For sure, it stuck with me, and I was nervous. But I was just trying to give myself a shot — if I lose, I lose but let’s try to go for it. I was just patiently waiting for that chance and had that belief that I can still do it.”
She could, and Sunday, she did.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Tennis, Women’s Tennis
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