Sawt Falasteen - Finally healthy, music lover Muchova eyes Wimbledon glory

Muchova will play in the first all-Czech Wimbledon final on Saturday against 21-year-old Linda Noskova.

It will be the second Grand Slam final for Muchova, a music lover and the daughter of a former footballer, after her loss at the 2023 French Open.

"I'm healthy, which I don't like to say –- touch wood," said the world number nine, who was advised to quit tennis in 2022 because of a series of persistent injuries.

"I'm happy that now I'm selling my game and that I can use it. I'm definitely appreciating more the time that I'm here.

"I don't have these big issues that I had in the past. I'm enjoying the moment that I'm here."

If Muchova wins, she will become the sixth Czech Wimbledon women's champion and the third in the last four year after Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.

Before this season, Muchova hired Dutch coach Sven Groeneveld, who played a key role in the success of Maria Sharapova and Monica Seles.

It has proved an inspired move, with the revitalised Muchova winning titles in Doha and Bad Homburg.

For the self-proclaimed "late bloomer", they were only her second and third singles singles titles.

"He has brought calm, a sense of perspective, lots of experience to the team. The things he tells me and that we do on court make sense," Muchova said.

- Lady Gaga, Beyonce... -

Muchova comes from a family of footballers -- her father Josef is a former Czech top-flight midfielder and now a football coach, while her brother Filip is a goalkeeper.

But Muchova herself is above all a music fan -- she plays the guitar and goes to concerts whenever her packed calendar allows.

She draws inspiration from attending concerts by the likes of Shawn Mendes, the Backstreet Boys, Beyonce and Lady Gaga while getting ready for a Grand Slam.

"I always played well after that," she said.

At the US Open in 2020, which was played under tight Covid restrictions, Muchova composed a song called 'US Open Bubble' about her Covid-hit life there, recorded a video at Flushing Meadows and published it on her Instagram.

Muchova is also a keen reader with a liking for autobiographies, but also "esoteric and educational literature".

"I'm not saying I don't read stories but I prefer to learn," Muchova once said.

"The trip to a bookstore in itself is an adventure. I have also tried audiobooks, but I have found out I need paper and reading."

"I want to use every hour to switch off -- good food, good coffee, a phone call with someone close, going to a theatre, to have energy for tennis again," Muchova added.

She has started a charity drive, donating $190 for each ace to a Czech foundation, and she is co-founding padel courts in her native eastern Czech city of Olomouc.

Facing Noskova in the Wimbledon final is special for her -- the two became close friends when they formed an impromptu doubles pair for the Paris Olympics in 2024, finishing fourth.

Muchova won their only encounter so far in the third round of last year's US Open -- motivated by the "unreal" experience of watching a Lady Gaga show.

With a Wimbledon title on the line, Muchova will once again lose herself in song before attempting to make sweet music on Centre Court.

"It's always music for me. Headphones, a room where I'm alone, I close my eyes and get inside the mental space through the music I like."

R.Halabi--SF-PST