Croatian tennis player Donna Vekic has bowed out of the Wimbledon semi-finals, but not before creating history. As a testament to her dedication, willpower, and never-give-up attitude, Wimbledon paid a rich tribute to her on Instagram.
Vekic just lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (8-10) to Italian player Jasmine Paolini in the semi-final. With this, she ended up playing the longest-ever semi-final in the history of women’s singles.
Vekic had a remarkable run at Wimbledon, and some felt that she may even go on to win it. Although that wasn’t to be, she still won hearts on her way out.
After beating the likes of Dayana Yastremska, Paula Badosa, and Lulu Sun, Vekic looked in terrific touch. But what was more remarkable was her comeback journey. Vekic was seriously injured multiple times in her career. After her knee surgery in 2021, she almost called it quits on her career.
Despite those setbacks, she kept playing and reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open 2023 and the semi-finals of Wimbledon 2024 – two of her best performances. This is why Wimbledon thought it was so important to pay her tribute since her courage and her story might inspire millions of women in the future.
After her loss, Vekic spoke at the press conference. Although it was heartbreaking to witness her journey, at the same time it was encouraging to so many.
She said, “There was a couple of time in my career that I didn’t wanna play tennis anymore.” Vekic then also spoke about pulling out of the French Open 2024 by adding, “I didn’t have any energy, any motivation, to keep pushing because I felt the last couple of months I ‘d given everything to tennis and I wasn’t getting the results that I kind of expected.”
Vekic lost 6-0, 5-7, 6-7 (8-10) to Olga Danilovic in the third round of the French Open, and it shattered her completely. Speaking of the same, she continued, “It was a very, very tough moment… That loss in Paris was so, so painful, but it motivated me again to keep working, to keep pushing.”
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It wasn’t just the physical part of her struggles that was pushing her towards retirement. It was also the mental side of things. Being a pro athlete is never easy, and some close losses can sometimes really shatter one’s confidence. Vekic too suffered from the same.
Vekic’s persistence finally paid off
Vekic has been playing professional tennis for 12 years now. She started in 2012, and it took her 12 years to reach her first-ever Grand Slam semi-final. Despite all her pain and struggles, she kept believing that she would cross the quarter-final hurdle one day, and she did.
With this, Vekic made another record. She became the fifth woman to play the most Grand Slam matches before finally reaching the semi-finals.
It took Vekic 43 Grand Slams to reach her first semi-final. Meanwhile, as per Sportstar, Barbora Strycova (53), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (52), Elena Likhovtseva (46), and Roberta Vinci (44) are the four other women who took more matches than her to reach their first ever semi-finals.
