THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 9, 2026

Linda Noskova

Press Conference

L. NOSKOVA/M. Kostyuk

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Linda, you made it through to your first Grand Slam final. How are you feeling?

LINDA NOSKOVA: I feel... I don't know how I feel really. It has been a great match. I stayed calm the whole time, which was the main goal for me. More or less satisfied.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I was a bit surprised by your on-court interview when you said you didn't watch tennis when you were young. How did you start tennis? Was it your parents who pushed you into this job?

LINDA NOSKOVA: Yeah, it was my parents. They started to play just for fun. My mom has always been a big fan of tennis, but she never played it before.

But when they started, I was kind of like running around the court and just trying to do what my parents do. It turned into a hobby. It turned into this, I guess (smiling).

I've had a lot of hobbies, so I'm glad I picked tennis.

Q. Can you go through some of your thoughts and emotions on the match point after you won.

LINDA NOSKOVA: I couldn't really believe it, I guess. You always want to be in those moments. You always want to win these big matches. But when it actually happens, you don't know how to react or kind of realize it.

I always realize any success or any great matches or a good tournament after it's all done. Right now I feel like I am already focusing on the final.

So yeah, after the tournament (smiling).

Q. How well do you know Karolina? Can you remember when you first met her? Watched some of her matches when you were a bit younger?

LINDA NOSKOVA: Yeah, well, we have never really met before until a couple of years ago, as I came on tour. But she's a great player, great person. Especially we got to know each other a lot during Olympics a couple of years ago.

We spent a lot of time together because we played doubles and almost got the medal. I feel like that was the main week for us to kind of get to know each other.

I didn't really know her well before. So yeah, this was the main event.

Q. When she got to the French Open final a few years ago, she played Iga, did you watch?

LINDA NOSKOVA: Yeah, I was watching it. I was obviously cheering for Karolina. I always like to see any fellow Czech players to have any success.

Q. A few weeks back, after Roland Garros, before Berlin, did you feel that you have in you the results you are achieving since Berlin, with this title, with this run to the final? Did you feel something in the way you grew up in your game, in your attitude, that could lead you there?

LINDA NOSKOVA: No, no (smiling). It always comes out of nowhere, I guess. You can't really plan your success or good times. If I could do it, I would definitely be planning it on every Grand Slam.

But after Roland Garros I was very, let's say, mentally tired 'cause the clay season was long for me. I've had a lot of good matches, a lot of great tournaments, but French Open was a disaster for me.

I kind of had to restart, reset, focus on just enjoying the time on court. This is where it got me.

At this stage, I would say that it's not about the big things; it's about the small percentage.

Q. How would you explain this love affair that the Czech players have with Wimbledon? Going back to Martina Navratilova, who won as a U.S. citizen, but is Czech. Jana Novotna, Petra Kvitova and all the others, is there an explanation?

LINDA NOSKOVA: It's a tradition at this point, I would guess, but I would say we are all kind of brought up in the same way in Czechia, in our game styles, in our tennis, but in some ways we are very different.

We are very creative, I would say, so grass allows us to kind of use any side of tennis, if it's serve and volley back in the old days, if it's slices and volleys in this new era. I would say that we have all these sides that we can use, that grass allows us, and it's showing.

Q. Both Marta and Elise praised the way you were serving. Have you tweaked anything on that shot, or is it a matter of you finding your tempo on it?

LINDA NOSKOVA: My serve?

Q. Yes.

LINDA NOSKOVA: I have been working on my serve for a couple of years now. It has been a great help for me lately. Obviously on grass court or hard courts, you can use your serve as the most powerful tool.

I always try to just focus on myself when I have my service game. Whatever happens on the return games happens. It's not really in my power all the time.

But my serve is what I focus the most on.

Q. Do you remember in your childhood when someone talked about Wimbledon, that it's really the tournament to win or a dream for many players, maybe your family or a coach? And what happened when you enter the Centre Court?

LINDA NOSKOVA: As a kid, I would say that I took all tournaments the same. I didn't even know what or how much it takes to get here. Obviously as a kid you have no clue. If I would have known how hard it is, but how beautiful it is, I definitely would have done it again. As a kid, I had no idea how special this tournament and known this tournament is.

But today, walking on the Centre Court, we did have, with Karolina, actually, we had have a warm-up there this morning, and it was my first-ever time being there, not even as a spectator, so it was a nice moment.

But I would say that I have not even realized it still 'cause I was focusing on the match. Now I'm focusing on the next match. Like I said, after the whole tournament finishes, I guess I will have to look at the photos to believe all this.

Q. Even in Berlin a week ago, you got questions about what makes Czech women's tennis special. It's a question Czech players have been getting a lot over the last many years. How have you learned to handle this question and to think about Czech tennis in your own sort of theories and answers about it?

LINDA NOSKOVA: Yeah, I always try to come up with something creative or something new, but it's always the same question and the same answer (smiling).

I don't know. We have so many tennis schools in Czech, even though we're such a small country. We have so many great coaches that have been working with worldwide greatest players.

I really don't know. If I knew, I guess all the other countries would have been doing the same thing. I'm proud of our country for having all these great champions.

Q. A bit random, but I'm curious about your relationship with your phone. How much are you using social media during this tournament run? Are you using it less or is it pretty normal and relaxed?

LINDA NOSKOVA: I would say I'm using it very, very not much. Very little, yes. Especially during a tournament, because you really don't want to get distracted a lot. Not even generally, I don't look at myself or Google myself to see what anyone wrote about me, because it's danger and you cannot really believe everything that is said.

I have a great relationship with my phone, I guess (smiling). But social media, just the social world is not the most enjoyable place for me, so I try to spend as little times a possible.

Q. You post sometimes about environmental issues. How did you get interested in that? How important is that to you? Do you think being in this green field of grass makes you...

LINDA NOSKOVA: You think it's that (laughter)? I'll bring grass with me to every tournament now.

No, I have always been very interested about the environment. I grew up in a small village, in a forest basically, so I'm very much like a nature lover, I guess.

Actually, a little sneak peek, I want to do some volunteering with nature in the next months or years. I have always been very active during whatever crisis there might have been happening.

After I finish my career, I definitely want to do something environmentally related.

Q. Do you feel you play the tennis of your life at the moment? Maybe in the past you had the same game without the reward? What is your feeling about it?

LINDA NOSKOVA: I think I'm playing great tennis. It's always when I feel good and relaxed off court is probably when it shows the most on court. At this stage, like I said, everybody has the level; it's just the small percent that makes the biggest difference.

I feel like I'm using my game, my game style on grass, a lot, and it's paying off.

Q. Obviously the two sets today, they were very similar in terms of the serves were being passed on until you kind of broke in the final game. It was very similar in your game against Madison Keys in the first set. Is that a pattern that you see happen a lot in your game? Do you enjoy passing on serve, then taking that final shot at the end? Have you noticed it at all?

LINDA NOSKOVA: I haven't noticed it, but obviously this scenario is the greatest way. I always try to focus on my serve first just to keep my service games. Then, like I said, whatever happens on the return games happens. It's not always in my power to control those games.

Well, if I could have only sets like this, it would have been the easiest. It's always just one break for each set, but it's never really that easy unfortunately.