Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova shrugged off injury concerns in press on Sunday, as she readies to start her title defense on Tuesday.
No.6 seed Vondrousova suffered a fall on the grass of Berlin two weeks ago, withdrawing during the first set of her second-round match with a right hip injury. But the Czech No.1 has been back on court at the All England Club and says she is fit to start.
"I had a couple of great practices here," Vondrousova said on Media Day at Wimbledon. "We came on Wednesday. It's fine now.
"But, yeah, [the fall] was really scary. I didn't play for a couple days. Yeah, I'm feeling good. I hope it's going to be okay."
Our defending champions' first round draw:
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2024
▪️ Marketa Vondrousova vs Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
▪️ Carlos Alcaraz vs Mark Lajal#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/DWBxJivx2b
Per Wimbledon custom, Vondrousova will play the first Centre Court match on Tuesday as the defending ladies' singles champion. She will face World No.83 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain, in their first meeting.
"I had a crazy last year," said Vondrousova. "It was amazing two weeks. So I'm very happy to be back. Yeah, I cannot wait to be back on Centre Court.
"I'm not stressed yet, but I think it's going to come tomorrow when I see the tournament starting and everything. But I practiced there on Friday. I got the feel of it. I honestly cannot wait to go back there. I have great memories also. But it's going to be a lot of stress and a lot of pressure, too."
Ranked No.42 a year ago, Vondrousova was the underdog in last year's final, but she swept past 2022 finalist Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 to become the first unseeded player to hoist the Venus Rosewater Dish as the Wimbledon ladies' singles champion.
"I think my first thought of winning the tournament was when I broke Ons in the second set for 5-4 and I was serving for the match," Vondrousova said.
Vondrousova beat four Top 20 seeds on her way to her first Grand Slam title. She had previously reached the 2019 Roland Garros final as a teenager, and she also was the Olympic silver medalist in singles at 2021 Tokyo.
"When I played the finals in Paris in 2019, I lost the final," Vondrousova said. "I was, like, really sad about it. We didn't even, like, celebrate it and everything. I was thinking if this is going to happen again, even if I lose the final, I just want to enjoy it and celebrate it.
"I actually really enjoyed the whole match, the whole final. ... The main thing you want to do, you just want to go to the box after the final. I have great memories from the final and going to the box."
Vondrousova followed up her breakthrough Slam title with quarterfinal runs at the 2023 US Open and 2024 Roland Garros, and she also qualified for last year's WTA Finals. She is currently ranked a career-high World No.6.
"Honestly, I think I didn't change a lot [after Wimbledon]," Vondrousova said. "I don't know, it just happened and I was like, 'OK, now you're a Wimbledon champion.'
"I think it's more for the people around me. They look at you differently, I feel like; also at the tournaments and everything. For me, I have the trophy at home, so every day I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, that happened.'"