Of all the emotions coursing through Linda Noskova’s body as she served for the Wimbledon title, the primary one may have been deja vu. The shadows had crept over Centre Court, the early evening sun had slipped lower, but the tension was the same as over an hour earlier. Then it had looked like the 21-year-old was on the brink of a straight-sets win, leading 6-2, 5-2, to claim her first grand slam title, a dismantling of Karolina Muchova to follow Iga Swiatek’s annihilation of Amanda Anisimova last year.Until suddenly it wasn’t. What followed was a collapse of legendary proportions, followed by an equally astonishing reset, as if the events of the preceding hour hadn’t happened at all. Noskova stepped up to serve, blasted down an ace, and fell to the turf a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 winner after nearly two and a half hours, the third-longest Wimbledon women’s final in history. She paid tribute to Muchova afterwards, while the 10th seed recovered from the crushing disappointment of a second grand slam final defeat to jokingly refer to her “ex-friend”. The pair contested the first all-Czech Wimbledon final, Noskova the third Czech winner of the last four years and another advertisement for the clean, varied game, tailor-made for grass, that the country seems to produce on a conveyor belt. Noskova’s forehand, serve and groundstrokes were all formidable in this final; but the most crucial facet of her game was the extraordinary strength of mind required to not only continue but to force herself back into contention after seeing five championship points run away from her deep in the second set. She said: “I was just telling myself that the match is starting over. I was in the bathroom. I just splashed some cold water on me, started over again. But what really helped me, like the first step I took off court, the trophies were there. I was like, I'm not going to take the small one, I'm taking the big one, I’m taking this one no matter what. If I'm going to leave my soul on court in the third set, whatever that be. I have been so close. This will probably be the heartbreak of my life. I started over.”The ninth seed had managed to sneak through the draw almost entirely under the radar, despite having more grass-court wins in the past two years than any other player and winning the Berlin title on the surface shortly before Wimbledon. But she immediately made it clear why she excels on the surface, and why she has long been tipped as a slam contender, having become the youngest player in the top 100 when she broke through four years ago. “She’s a calm fighter,” Muchova summed it up. On court, she said: “You’re so young and this was your first grand slam final and the way you handled it and the way you played was really unbelievable.”Despite Noskova’s tender years and this being her debut in a grand slam final she played with remarkable freedom and composure, firing down a second serve ace to hold to love in her first service game, and breaking Muchova for a 3-1 lead with a hefty backhand down the line. Noskova combines clean, hard ball-striking with a deft touch, and on Saturday she was able to beat Muchova at her own game, playing with the sort of variety normally associated with her compatriot. A backhand winner down the line brought up another three break, and set, points at 5-2, and although Muchova fought back to deuce, she came unstuck as the pair traded delicate volleys before Noskova sent her scrambling back to the baseline for a lob she could not retrieve. Noskova dropped to the turf in amazement as she finally sealed the title (Getty)Runner-up at the 2023 French Open, Muchova was the finalist with the experience of the biggest stage, but Noskova played as if this was exactly where she belonged. A visibly frustrated Muchova did not create a single break point in the set, and despite serving at 81 per cent was broken twice, while Noskova won 12 of 13 points behind her first serve. The heavy-hitting Noskova continued to pile the pressure on, the second set rapidly barrelling away from Muchova, who the crowd swung behind, desperate for a real contest. Noskova held to love with an ace for a 5-2 lead. But from that position up she spectacularly unravelled, losing the next five games, and she walked off court with her fingers in her ears to drown out the raucous applause for Muchova’s comeback. She produced errors on three championship points on Muchova’s serve, the tension wracking her body, then double faulted on her first match point on her serve, alternating double faults and three aces in an excruciating, mammoth game before a terrible shanked forehand to concede a break for the first time. The 21-year-old had never been in a grand slam final before (PA Wire)The remainder of the set was purgatory, Noskova’s game, particularly her forehand, faltering entirely and Muchova walking a tightrope between the terrible and the sublime. Noskova said later: “My hand kind of froze at certain moments”. A fifth match point went begging at 5-4, then Noskova leaked three errors in a row to concede another break, covering her head with a towel at the changeover. Roared on by Centre Court Muchova served out nervelessly to force a decider.In another universe Noskova could have been left ruing that double fault as the most consequential double of her entire life. She had won a match in this tournament from match point down, against Sorana Cirstea in the third round. She knew her opponent had too, Muchova capitalising on a dreadful error by Coco Gauff in their semi-final match tiebreak to eventually make the final. That thought would have lodged in Noskova’s brain like a parasite.So the fact that she came out and ripped the match from Muchova’s grasp in that deciding set was nothing short of incredible. The 21-year-old saved three break points in the first game of the third set and another in the third, and broke Muchova’s serve in between, screaming with relief as she clinched the game. Muchova said: “It took a lot of power and strength out of me, I would say, to get back in that second set. I gave it my all. The people were cheering on me. I felt it, I felt the support. I felt the momentum in the second set, that I turned it around. It took, as I said, some strength out of me. Unfortunately then the start of the third kind of slipped through my fingers.”Muchova wrestled the momentum back in an extraordinary second set (Getty)Noskova said: “I’m brave enough to say that the third set would not have been the same if maybe I would have lost the first game. I lost five games in a row in the second one, so it was very, very important to start off great, in a good way, the third one.”Her powerful, clean groundstrokes were back, as was her confidence in her forehand. Muchova continued to produce stunning shots – a tweener which landed right on the baseline as she dug out a Noskova lob at 3-1 – but even then the ninth seed had the advantage, lashing a forehand winner in reply. Noskova served her way into a 5-2 lead. Centre Court had seen this play out before. Muchova held to love, forcing her to serve for the match for a second time. This time she was determined there would be a different ending. She netted a forehand for 15-15, then gritted out a baseline rally, planting a drive volley beyond Muchova. An ace down the T brought her a sixth championship point. This time there was to be no missing, as a 115mph ace sealed her redemption. She fell to the court in relief, and shook her head slowly as she walked to pick up her discarded racquet, the entire extraordinarily dramatic match something of a fever dream. “I will definitely never forget these two weeks,” Wimbledon’s newest, greatest escape artist said afterwards. “All the sad tears, all the happy tears, all the sweat and blood put into this, it was all worth it.” Was it even sweeter, triumphing through such adversity rather than winning 6-2 6-2? With a wry smile, she said: “I feel like if I would have saved the spectators, my team or myself the stress and all the heart-stopping moments, I would say that that would be better. Just winning it this way, really having to fight for it, having all these ups and downs, it matters a lot, but I do have to learn a lot from this match, definitely.”