Exclusive: ‘I can be a good competitor’ – French Open finalist Karolina Muchova confident of challenging big three

Just over three weeks ago, Karolina Muchova stood on a podium in the middle of Court Philippe-Chatrier, fighting tears, with a runner-up plate in one hand and a microphone in the other as the Roland Garros crowd gave her an extended standing ovation.

The Czech had just played, and lost, a brilliant three-set final against world No.1 Iga Swiatek and the fans wanted to make sure she knew they appreciated the show she put on for them throughout the fortnight in Paris.

“It was the most crazy and amazing feeling I had on court,” Muchova told eurosport.com in an interview on Sunday.

“I mean I’ve played on big stadiums and had interviews and people clapping but this was completely from another planet, because it was really full of people and I felt like people are really trying to push me to get the win there, then just everyone standing and clapping, saying my name.

“I really want to thank each one of them. It was a very strong moment.”

That run in Paris has taken Muchova to a career-high No.16 in the world and the 26-year-old is back seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2021 US Open, after injuries wreaked havoc with her progress and saw her slip to outside the top 200 in the rankings by last autumn.

Muchova’s first match since the Roland Garros final comes on Wednesday at Wimbledon, where she takes on last year’s quarter-finalist Jule Niemeier in a highly-anticipated opening round.

The No.16 seed opted out of playing any official tournaments between the two Grand Slams, and instead chose to unwind with family and friends, taking stock of her milestone achievement in the French capital.

“It’s been honestly really fast,” she says of the quick turnaround from the clay to the grass.

“I arrived home and I had a week full of media. So it’s been pretty exhausting. And then I had to get back to tennis. And then I’m here.

“It really feels like two seconds, everything went so fast but I had some time with my friends, we celebrated a little bit. It was nice to spend a few days with my family and friends and then back to prepare the best I could for grass.

“It was not like we really celebrated, we just sat down and I had people around me. We do that often, but now we had this occasion to put the glasses up and say some words.”

Muchova plays tennis with incredible flair, mixing things up with slices and volleys, which combines nicely with her big serve and high tennis IQ. Her creativity is not just confined to the court. If you pay close attention to her social media, you might come across an occasional video on her Instagram where she is playing the guitar and singing along. Muchova’s angelic voice is radio-worthy but she resists any suggestion she is actually good at singing or playing music.

“I’m not good. I still think I’m not good, I don’t like to listen to myself,” she says with a coy smile.

“Here and there I pick up a guitar I have at home. I know a few chords and basically if you know a few chords you can play any song, mostly. Then when I have friends over or my family, I pick up the guitar and I play a few songs.”

So we shouldn’t expect a Karolina Muchova album in the future?

“You never know, I go with you never know but not in the near future I think,” she says.

Muchova’s favourite tournament is Wimbledon. It’s where she reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final in 2019, repeating that feat again in 2021 (also made Australian Open semis in 2021).

As a coffee enthusiast, she has a new go-to spot picked out for these Championships – Demitasse in Wimbledon Village – and can’t wait to step on court for her opening match, which was postponed from Tuesday due to the rain and is scheduled late on Wednesday.

Muchova says her game is most-suited for grass and fast hard courts and says she always had this creative, attacking playing style, even when she was a child.

“I think it came pretty naturally to me. When I look at the videos when I was 11 years old or something you still see me going to the net and playing drop shots, I was like that since I was a kid,” she said.

“I think when I got older, I really liked Roger (Federer) and he plays this aggressive and touchy game, so that influenced me a bit.”

Does her style as a player mimic her off-court persona?

“I think kind of everyone is like that, how you are on court, it can be a little bit how you are off court. Not with everything but it shows a little bit of you. And yeah, I don’t even like to describe myself, I always let it for other people but I think I’m pretty easy with everything,” she explains.

Since Paris, Muchova has received an enormous number of messages from within the tennis world and beyond. Czech celebrities, fans, fellow players, legends… the support has been hard to wrap her head around, but she has welcomed it all, especially the advice that has come her way.

“Rennae Stubbs reached out to me. Simona Halep texted me as well, which was super nice. The advice is just to keep on going, keep the motivation up and if I believe, I can maybe one day reach a Grand Slam trophy,” she said. “I’m happy to be here and I’m ready to enjoy it. Maybe the best advice is just to enjoy every moment, nothing is forever so just to enjoy the time I have now.”

For now, Muchova says she’s “not really thinking about pressure”, even though she does enjoy placing some “healthy pressure” on herself, which she finds often helps her perform better.

She is aware she has no grass-court matches under her belt coming into Wimbledon but also feels she is not a player that needs too much match-play in order to feel well on court.

“I’m not a player that has to play every week, I think I would not like tennis if I did that, it would be too much for me,” she added. “I like that I had a little bit of chill.”

Muchova’s goal was to be seeded for Wimbledon and now that she has achieved it, she has her sights set on higher targets.

With lots of talk emerging about the WTA’s ‘Big Three’, of Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, and Elena Rybakina (holders of the last five Grand Slam titles), Muchova acknowledges she still has a way to go but is confident in her chances against any opposition.

“They are the top three, even in the rankings, so they deserve it,” she states.

“I’m not really following that, I don’t know much about it.

“I’m obviously not there and I shouldn’t be there, I’m No.16 now. But I’m glad that I have the feeling that I can challenge each one of them and that I can be a good competitor when I play against them and that’s good to know for me.

“The results for them and the way they play, it’s incredible, I think it’s good as well for the people to see some rivalries. But then there is number four, five, six until 30 and I think they are amazing players too.”

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