Wimbledon doubles champion Barbora Strycova on Wednesday said that while motherhood was a major contributor to her success, it would prevent her from playing again at the All England Club Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
The 37-year-old Czech lifted the trophy together with Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei, who is the same age, in a repeat of their 2019 triumph.
Strycova announced her retirement before giving birth to her son, Vincent, in September 2021, but returned for one last season, planning to wind up her career at the US Open starting on Aug. 28.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Motherhood helped me a lot,” said Strycova, who also reached the Wimbledon singles semi-finals in 2019.
“Being a mom is more than being a Wimbledon champion, but it’s great that I can do both, be a mom and do my job,” she told reporters in Prague.
She said Vincent had seen her play in the second round.
“But he then wants to go to me and doesn’t understand that he can’t,” Strycova said, explaining why he missed her other games.
He also missed the late-night final, after being put to bed by Strycova’s mother.
“We went to play the Wimbledon final and I was nervous, but I knew my son would be there after the game and he doesn’t care if I win or lose,” she said.
“I was thinking of him in the final ... and it helped me a lot because I stopped thinking about the game,” said Strycova, who has won two WTA Tour singles and 32 doubles titles in her career.
Although she is grateful to her mother and mother-in-law for their help taking care of Vincent, she said it was impossible to go on like this for long.
“They help me a lot, but the kid is simply there with me and I sleep with him, and Vincent is not much of a sleeper and so it’s really tough,” she said. “The idea that I would have to get ready for the next season is unrealistic. I want to be with him and take it easy, use the babysitting for myself, go and get a massage nice and slow, and not rush to a training session.”
Strycova managed no more than three rather short training sessions on court and four in the fitness center a week in the buildup to Wimbledon.
“Motherhood will completely change your life and training, too. I had three days a week and didn’t care it wasn’t six. I wanted to be with my son,” she said.
Strycova confessed there were times when she wanted to give up.
“You come home from training and there’s the little boy, and you want to spend time with him, but you’re absolutely exhausted,” she said. “That was tough and so I am determined to quit. It’s all wonderful, I’m really happy, our win was unbelievable, but there’s this huge amount of work behind it.”
She said perseverance was key in combining motherhood and sports.
“I think mothers have a strength in them with which they can achieve absolutely everything,” she said.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS