I “fess”, I am in the Karolína Muchová fan queue.
A member of the “Slam Last 8” club after reaching the quarterfinals or better at all the majors, she is regularly included in the “What about…” when women’s Slam title chances are discussed.
The reason she is in the “What about…” category is because of all injuries she has suffered…
- A left wrist injury in 2021;
- Abdominal, ankle and back injuries during 2022;
- A right wrist surgery that sidelined her for 10 months during 2023-’24;
- Another left wrist injury which restricted her tournament play in 2025 and led to her developing a one-handed backhand slice;
- An upper left leg injury at the US Open requiring treatment during her fourth round match against Marta Kostyuk and quarterfinal against Naomi Osaka
Using “old tennis” terms to describe her play… Muchová has “touch”… she “crafts”, “creates”, “caresses shots…” and has “soft hands”. Her galaxy of shot making was on display in her 6-4, 7-6 quarterfinal loss to Naomi Osaki.
The revealing September 3rd feature in The Athletic titled “Karolína Muchová’s beautiful tennis at the U.S. Open and her injury journey to get back there” author by Charlie Eccleshare explains her artistry. It is no surprise that growing up she patterned her game after Roger Federer.
Muchová, who was born a year before Venus Williams’ 1997 Open debut, was mesmerizing in the first round contest against the 45-year-old that she won, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
In the next round, the No. 11 seed was serving at 30-30 in the first set, down 4-1 against Sorana Cîrstea, when she became upset…then stopped and walked to the side of the court and began gesturing.
With tears in her eyes, she continued to serve… and eventually won the almost three hour match 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.
In a Czech media translation provided to The Athletic she said her emotions weren’t “…tennis related. So, l don’t really like talking about it. But opposite my bench, my ex-boyfriend sat down. He sometimes shows up at places where he shouldn’t be.
“That startled me a bit. I told him to leave, he didn’t, but later he did go. It was hard to focus in that moment.”
Beyond the distraction, Karolína Muchová’s “Magic…” was on full display during the Open.
Title photo by Paul Zimmerman
“Karolína Muchová’s beautiful tennis at the U.S. Open and her injury journey to get back there”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6593379/2025/09/03/karolina-muchova-tennis-us-open