A perennial force in the women’s ranks, no nation boasts more top-10, top-20 or top-50 players than the Czech Republic.
While Jiri Lehecka made inroads for the men, 2023 was still very much about his WTA compatriots as Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova spearheaded a top-10 trio also including Roland Garros finalist Karolina Muchova and 2021 French champion Barbora Krejcikova.
With many of these Czechs having experienced memorable moments at Melbourne Park, it bodes well for Australian Open 2024.
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Marketa Vondrousova
Emulating left-handed Czech greats Martina Navratilova and Petra Kvitova, Vondrousova realised her promise after years of injury woes on the lawns of the All England Club this season.
The then-world No.42 became the first unseeded Wimbledon champion in the Open era after stunning five seeds, including last year’s finalist, Ons Jabeur, in the final.
She backed it up at the US Open where she reached the quarterfinals for the first time and climbed to a career-best world No.6.
Wrist injuries and ultimately surgery stunted Vondrousova’s earlier progress but in 2019 she was the first teenage Grand Slam finalist in almost a decade before she fell to Ash Barty at Roland Garros.
Two years later, she was the Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo.
Jiri Lehecka
The Czechs have keenly anticipated their successor to retired former world No.4 Tomas Berdych in the men’s ranks.
They may yet find it in Jiri Lehecka. A pure ball-striker who oozes natural ability, it comes as no surprise Lehecka counts his idol as Berdych, who has since taken on mentoring his young countryman.
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The 22-year-old made an impressive debut at Australian Open 2023 when he outplayed then No.7 Felix Auger-Aliassime for his first top-10 victory and maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The result lifted Lehecka into the top 50 and he followed up with a second top-10 win, over Andrey Rublev, to reach the Doha semifinals.
Blisters cruelled his chances against Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round at Wimbledon, but a month later, he cracked the top 30 following his maiden tour final at Winston-Salem.
Karolina Muchova
In a similar vein to Vondrousova, the gifted Muchova has struggled to string together full seasons due to recurrent injuries.
Her 2023 season was not exempt as a wrist injury cost her the tail end of the year, including a maiden WTA Finals appearance.
Nevertheless, it stood out as her finest stretch yet.
In one of the greatest comeback wins of the year, the 27-year-old surged from match point and 2-5 down to surprise second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the Roland Garros semifinals.
While unable to carry the break in hand to the finish line in the final against Iga Swiatek it was a tournament to remember.
A first WTA 1000 final at Cincinnati and US Open semifinal, both of which she lost to Coco Gauff, were the other highlights and enough to bump her up to world No.8.
Barbora Krejcikova
Already an accomplished major-winning doubles player, Krejcikova swept all before her at Roland Garros two years ago to snare an improbable singles triumph.
While she started 2023 outside the top 20, having climbed as high as No.2 the previous year, the 27-year-old rebounded to return to the top 10.
Following AO 2023, at which she reached the fourth round in singles and picked up her seventh Grand Slam doubles crown alongside Katerina Siniakova, the Czech captured her first WTA 1000 trophy at Dubai.
It was a triumph made all the more impressive considering she denied five seeds in succession – including four top 10 players.
Victories over No.2 Sabalenka, No.3 Jessica Pegula and No.1 Swiatek made her the first woman to beat the world’s top three in a single event in consecutive days.
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A seventh career title came at San Diego in September, while she also reached finals at Birmingham and Zhengzhou.
Petra Kvitova
Dual Wimbledon champion and AO 2019 finalist Kvitova maintained a top-20 presence heading into 2023 but few foresaw the run she would embark on at Miami in April.
There were pertinent reminders the 33-year-old left-hander could still master anyone on her day when she opened the season with a win over No.3 Pegula at the United Cup. She later saved four match points to repeat the feat against the American for an Indian Wells quarterfinal berth.
Seeded 15th at Miami, she went on a tear all the way to the final where she snapped Elena Rybakina’s 13-match winning streak and her bid for the Sunshine Double.
The WTA 1000 triumph was the former world No.2’s 30th career title, her biggest since Madrid in 2018, and returned her to the top 10.
A 31st trophy ensued on the grass in Berlin before her seventh last 16 run at Wimbledon.
Best of the rest
Marie Bouzkova put herself on the cusp of an Australian Open seeding after finishing the year at world No.34. The 25-year-old beat Gauff for her third career top-five win in Rome and fifth seed Caroline Garcia for back-to-back Wimbledon fourth rounds. She breezed past third seed Pegula for her third WTA 1000 hardcourt quarterfinal at Cincinnati.
Former world No.1 and two-time major finalist Karolina Pliskova maintained her place in the top 40 despite a late-season left wrist injury. Still a dangerous prospect, the 31-year-old began her season with her fourth Australian Open quarterfinal appearance and reached the last eight at Dubai and Stuttgart.
Linda Noskova’s season began emphatically in Adelaide where as a 102nd-ranked qualifier she claimed top-10 wins over Daria Kasatkina and Jabeur either side of a match-point saving victory over Victoria Azarenka. Sabalenka denied her a maiden title but less than a month later, as an 18-year-old, she became the youngest player in the top 50. Noskova reached a second final in Prague and cracked the top 40 in October.
The eighth Czech woman to end the year inside the top 50, Siniakova reached three singles finals in 2023, from which she was champion at two. The 27-year-old, who claimed AO 2023, Indian Wells and San Diego in doubles alongside Krejcikova, added a fourth singles title to her tally on grass at Bad Homburg and made up for a defeat in the Hong Kong decider with the silverware in Nanchang a week later.
Siniakova’s partner off court is Czech men’s No.2 Tomas Machac. The world No.78 claimed back-to-back Challenger titles in France in October and made the most of a lucky loser spot in the Stockholm draw where he beat Stan Wawrinka for his second ATP quarterfinal of the season. Machac beat Jordan Thompson in the Czech’s Davis Cup quarterfinal loss to Australia.
The older of two highly-touted sisters, then-17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova overtook compatriot Noskova to become the youngest woman in the top 50 in March. She made an impressive Australian Open debut in January, when she saw off fellow Czech Vondrousova to reach the fourth round. A semifinal at Ningbo in September was the highlight in the second half of a season in which she finished at world No.92.