THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — A year on from Amanda Anisimova’s emotional speech after a 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon final defeat to Iga Świątek, Karolína Muchová was similarly struggling to hold it together.
The tears flowed down her face on Saturday early evening just as they had done for Anisimova a year earlier, as Muchová went up to do one of the toughest things in tennis: Give a runners-up speech, having just suffered one of the biggest heartbreaks in the sport.
This was nothing like the loss Anisimova had suffered, but it will be no less crushing — even if the emotions are different.
Muchová was beaten 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 by her friend and fellow Czech Linda Nosková, who overcame unraveling at her first sight of the finish line in the second set by resetting to win in three.
Between the second and third sets, the match had seemed there for the taking for Muchová. The 29-year-old had saved five championship points, winning five straight games, to come from 5-2 down against an opponent who was falling apart. When Muchová forced break point three times in the first game of the decider, a comeback win seemed inevitable.