Karolina Muchova has been doing well since returning to action following a lengthy injury layoff. The Czech tennis player made deep runs in some WTA tournaments she participated in the second half of the year. She took that form into the China Open, where she is just one game away from winning the title.
Ahead of her highly anticipated final against Coco Gauff, Muchova, in a conversation with WTA, spoke about her injury-prone season and its impact on her. She discussed how she spent most of the time recovering from her wrist injury.
The Czech player has been out of action since the end of 2023 but returned to the season in June this year when she participated in the Eastbourne International. As a result, Muchova joked that it made her feel as though tennis was a ‘part-time’ career for her.
“This season is almost over. It’s like my part-time job – this tennis thing. I am so far pretty happy about it and I sort of, am looking forward to another season where I can prepare and do the tournaments that I wasn’t able to play this year,” said Karolina.
In the Insider Podcast with WTA, Muchova was also given a challenge in which she was asked to not discuss tennis for a minimum of ten minutes.
Despite finding it ‘weird’ initially, the tennis player agreed to do it. Though there were a few slips initially by the host, Muchova stayed true to the condition of the challenge and prevented herself from talking about the sport for the given duration. During this time, she also revealed the place she wanted to visit and spend some time on vacation.
Karolina Muchova’s Australian Dream
At the beginning of the challenge, the Czech player was asked which place she would like to spend her vacation if she were given unlimited time and money. Her reply was Australia.
“I’d probably go Australia. I only see a few series there and I think I would love to stroll around and see it all, islands and I think I could spend some time there,” revealed the world number 49.
In response to the interviewer’s question on what she likes about Australia, she revealed it was nature and the people of the country who spoke to her. “I think it must be good to see the coast and surf maybe and just like have that life for a bit, I think I could enjoy that,” she further added.
She could very well get to fulfill her dream at the start of next year, during the 2025 Australian Open. If she can maintain her brilliant China Open run, there are high chances of her getting seeded in the first Grand Slam of next year.
Muchova’s impressive run in Beijing included wins over key players like Qinwen Zheng and Aryna Sabalenka. Meeting the recently crowned US Open champions in the quarterfinal, the Czech player displayed brilliant tennis skills by dominating the third set after they were even at 1-1.
The meeting with the home favorite and Paris Olympics gold medalist Zheng turned out to be a lopsided contest, easily dominated by Muchova. She will now face world number 6 Coco Gauff in the final, which can be seen at 7am ET on October sixth.
