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Karolina Muchova had a great anecdote to tell WTA's Courtney Nguyen after she and Marketa Vondrousova both reached the top-10. Last year, both Muchova and Vondrousova struggled with injuries and it impacted their results and form.
In late 2022, Muchova and Vondrousova competed at an ITF event in Shrewsbury. This year, it's a completely different story as Muchova made the finals at the French Open and Cincinnati while Vondrousova became a Grand Slam champion at Wimbledon.
This Monday, 27-year-old Muchova broke into the top-10 for the first time in her career while Vondrousova returned to the top-10 and is now ranked at No 9. But before all of this - in 2022 November - Muchova and Vondrousova looked at each other and asked themselves "what the hell" were they doing at an ITF event in Shrewsbury.
funniest anecdote i heard all week was from muchova. said she and vondrousova were playing at an ITF in shrewsberry last year and they both looked at each other, 'what the hell are we doing here?'
Both in the Top 10 on Monday.— Courtney Nguyen (@FortyDeuceTwits) August 19, 2023
Muchova hopes to make her Olympic debut
The Czech Republic currently has nine players ranked inside the top-100 and the lowest-ranked in the group is Linda Fruhvirtova, who is ranked at No 55 in the world.
The Czech Republic isn't lacking talent in the women's game and Muchova admits securing an Olympic berth for the 2024 Paris Olympics won't be an easy task. "Yeah [it is a challenge is that given how big the competition is], you have to be a top-10 player to make the Olympics cut in Czech, it feels like.
Yeah, I'm not really thinking about the Olympics. Honestly, I've never competed in Olympic Games. I would really want to. It is a big motivation. It's a goal for next year. I'm not thinking about it now, but I will really try to get the spot.
It's very, very tough in Czech to get that spot. It's going to be fun," Muchova said in Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Muchova made her first WTA 1000 final in Cincinnati before Cori Gauff handed her a 6-3 6-4 loss. Now, Muchova's focus turns to the US Open, where she will try to potentially win her first Grand Slam title.