An all-round athlete invoking lucky charms including a nose piercing, Linda Noskova showed remarkable grit to follow in the footsteps of compatriot and role model Petra Kvitova by winning the Wimbledon title.
The 21-year-old recovered after wasting five match points in the second set to beat fellow Czech and good friend Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in Saturday's final.
Noskova, who will rise from 12th to seventh in the WTA rankings on Monday, is the same age as Kvitova was when she won the first of her two Wimbledon titles in 2011.
Kvitova was watching on from the royal box at the All England Club and greeted Noskova after her victory in the clubhouse.
"As a kid I was always looking up to her," said Noskova, who has now won three career titles, including the Berlin grass tournament in June.
"She was the face of Czech tennis. When she won Wimbledon, I definitely noticed that and maybe she helped me to get into tennis a little bit."
Noskova is Wimbledon's latest Czech champion after Kvitova in 2011 and 2014, following Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.
Noskova has as much talent as Kvitova but arguably a different personality as she completely ignores her surroundings, locked within herself and focused steadfastly on what she is doing.
"I have always been like that. I want to manage my tennis myself," said Noskova, who pursued swimming, cycling, athletics and more as a child.
"I don't even need any connection with the team on the court. In fact, I sometimes forget to look at them throughout the game."
Noskova has the same low-key personality at home.
"I don't need people around me. I'm happy on my own," she said.
"Our community wants and expects us to live in a bubble. Meet duties, show up at social events, meet sponsors... I don't want to get absorbed by this."
When the players went on holiday after the 2025 season, Noskova travelled to Zanzibar to volunteer at a local school for a week.
"I could really rest there. I didn't think of tennis once," she said, calling the experience "unforgettable".
"In 90 percent of cases, mental comfort is more important than physical comfort."
Noskova has confessed she likes cooking and baking -- she has created her own pizza style "with a kind of salad on top", but also driving her Tesla car.
She has a penchant for lucky charms and rituals -- besides the piercing in her nose, she has matcha tea served by a friend every morning at Wimbledon.
"It still works," chuckled Noskova, who was trained by Martina Hingis's mother Melanie Molitor in Switzerland as a child.
Noskova has lavished praise on Muchova as a "great girl" since their doubles partnership at the 2024 Paris Olympics where they finished fourth.
Muchova jokingly referred to her as an "ex-friend" after the dramatic Wimbledon climax.
The two had only previously played against each other once -- in the third round of last year's US Open, with Muchova winning in three sets.
Noskova has a painful Wimbledon memory -- in 2024, she entered the tournament shortly after her mother had died of cancer.
She could not hide her emotions after winning a rollercoaster final.
Noskova had her face buried in her towel late in the second set after blowing five match points across three separate games, but barely an hour later, she was crying tears of joy.
"I don't know how to celebrate really. I never know what to do. I'm still kind of down on earth," Noskova said.
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