Donna Vekic panics, regroups, then escapes Sloane Stephens for emotional Wimbledon win

Even now, in this century of slower grass, Wimbledon tops all as a showcase for the way the outcome of a tennis match can pivot on a knife’s edge. For there is no surface more than grass and no venue more than Wimbledon that so dramatically rewards the instantly alert over the momentarily passive. This is different than the long haul of clay or the even-handed nature of hard courts. Grass is for opportunists who can press forward through their doubts and, at the right times, retain faith in their ability to strike the shots they’ve been trained to hit. As another British icon, Ringo Starr, once sang, “Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues/You know it don’t come easy.” On Wimbledon’s lawns, if you don’t take the bounce, the bounce will take you.

All of Wimbledon’s tennis’ mental, physical, and emotional attributes surfaced gloriously today in Donna Vekic’s 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over Sloane Stephens. As befits tennis’ capacity for grand theatre, this two-hour, 32-minute No.1 Court match was marked by four major plot twists and countless minor turns too. Start with Vekic’s 3-1 first set lead. Turn control to Stephens, who captured 10 of the next 13 games to go up 6-4, 5-2. Then Vekic took five straight to even the match and go up 3-1 in the third. Facing three break points in that fifth game, Stephens held to stay in contention.

In the final game, Vekic serving at 5-4, Stephens went ahead 0-15, 15-30, 30-40. Each time, Vekic answered with an ace, the final one earned with a challenge. At deuce, Stephens hit a return into the net. On match point, Vekic closed it out with an inside-out forehand winner. Bursting into tears just prior to her post-match interview with the BBC, Vekic said, “It was an incredibly tough match today.”

So much did the momentum flip back and forth in this match that it was impossible to determine which factor—experience, ball-striking, movement, poise—made one player more likely to win. Seeded 20th at Wimbledon, Vekic had played excellent grass-court tennis prior to The Championships. In Berlin, Vekic reached the finals, along the way beating current Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and No. 8 Maria Sakkari before losing to Petra Kvitova. In contrast, the 39th-ranked Stephens hadn’t played a match since Roland Garros. There was also a shared Wimbledon history, Vekic beating Stephens in the first round at this event five years ago. On that occasion, while Vekic was ranked 55, Stephens was seeded fourth, having won the 2017 US Open and just lost in the final of Roland Garros.

As the first set began, current results and her ‘18 Wimbledon victory appeared to tilt Vekic’s way. Early on, Vekic was sharp, Stephens listless. But soon enough, Stephens found impressive form. An astute reader of the court, an effortless mover, able to smoothly generate explosive racquet head speed and exceptional precision, Stephens fought back and began to dictate the tempo of many a rally. At her best, Stephens summons up Martina Hingis—but with more power, particularly off the forehand.

Stephens was also aided by poor serving on Vekic’s part. In the first set, Vekic double-faulted four times and got in a subpar 43 percent of her first serves. Serving in the first set at 4-5, 40-30, Vekic double-faulted twice in a row and on the next point, dropped the opener. She also double-faulted twice at 0-1 in the second set and in that game was broken by a sublime Stephens backhand drop shot.

Serving at 0-3, 15-30, Vekic saw a Stephens lob float over her head and gave a helpless look familiar to every tennis player: Can you believe this? Maybe today’s just not my day. At that stage, Vekic appeared to have run out of ideas. “I mean, I was losing,” said Vekic. “Not that I was just losing; I felt like I was getting killed.”

But while any tennis player can keep fighting, it’s another thing to do so with Vekic’s weapons. She eventually held serve in that game. With Stephens serving for the match at 5-3, 30-30, Vekic came up with two big forehands to get back on serve. Perhaps at this critical point, Stephens’ lack of match play had caught up with her. Serving at 5-all, 15-30, Stephens netted two forehands. In the next game, on set point number three, Vekic evened the match when a Stephens forehand return flew long.

Yet just when it seemed Vekic was going to ride a wave of momentum to victory, Stephens recovered. Serving to start the third, Stephens went down 15-40, levelled the game, faced another break point. She won it in the most engaging rally of the match, one featuring first-rate scrambling from both players, including Stephens running down a lob and a surprised Vekic missing a makeable mid-court forehand. Upon winning that game, Stephens took a love-40 lead on Vekic’s serve. Now it was Vekic’s turn to fight back and hold.

Even more drama at 1-1. Stephens won the first three points. But at 40-love, a Vekic forehand return dribbled over the net for a winner. Two points later it was deuce—and there came another Vekic forehand net cord winner. Soon, Vekic had broken.

As Vekic labored through both nerves and serves—11 double-faults—she had also begun to assert herself far more from the baseline. Stephens had become just passive enough to lose control of the rallies she’d commanded so smoothly earlier in the match. “Yeah, she was playing unbelievably well,” said Vekic, “and I was in full panic out there. I didn't really know what to do, how to turn things around. But somehow I managed to fight and win.”

Vekic next plays an intriguing left-handed tactician, No. 42 Marketa Vondrousova, a surprise second round winner over 12th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova. Vondrousova and Vekic have only played each other once, Vekic winning in Hobart back in 2018.

“So like I said before the tournament,” said Vekic, “it will be tough to manage expectation for these two weeks. Hopefully after today things will be a little bit easier for me mentally-wise, because, yeah, today was tough.” While one would be ill-advised to consider Ringo Starr any kind of tennis expert, these additional words from the revered Beatle might also aid Vekic: “And all I got to do is act naturally.”