By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday September 3, 2024
New York – Tennis is about feeling for Karolina Muchova.
While the 28-year-old Czech is getting back into shape after missing nine months due to wrist surgery, she is feeling pretty good.
Muchova reached the doubles quarterfinals at the US Open by beating one of the most in-form players on the tour on Monday in New York. She defeated Jasmine Paolini, 6-3, 6-3, and will face Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia for a shot at her second US Open semifinal on Wednesday.
She’s done it by playing backhand tennis, full of net attacks, aesthetically pleasing volleys and — in case you missed it — the most incredible shot of the US Open: a hot backhand that went viral during the first week.
It’s rare in this age of physicality and base scratching to see a player display such artistry on the pitch, but Muchova pulls it off and wins over fans as she does.
“I’m a fan of hers,” Paolini said before facing her on Monday. “She is playing unbelievable. I really like how she plays. She can play any stroke, slice, volley, serve and volley. She’s a very complete player, I think, a very difficult opponent.”
Paolini probably wasn’t such a big fan after she was blown away by the nice check at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Day 8, but such is life.
“Muchova is like one of my favorite players to watch,” Andy Roddick said on his Served Podcast on Monday. “I don’t know how she hasn’t been great for ten years. Every time I look at her I’m like: she’s legit good, like really, really, good.”
“She might be one of the most athletic Top 5 players,” his co-host Jon Wertheim replied.
Listening to the Tennis Podcast this week on the 7 train in Flushing Meadows, I heard Matt Roberts compare Muchova to Suzanne Lenglen and thought to myself: YES! Everything but the ankle-length dress and the brandy in the yard is there.
Muçova’s tennis has a rare elegance, a skill, a flair.
Muchova says she has to play this way, it’s basically the only way she can feed the sport. It is not basic, this cunning check.
She does it all with a spirit of humility. She does not believe that in the name of freedom she is carrying the flag in a rebellious way. Muchova is just… Muchova.
“I can’t say if it’s unique,” she said of her tennis style Monday after knocking off Paolini, “but yeah, I just like to change it up. I love doing what I do, basically going online and actually playing a game. Have more fun; not just grind back and play forehands / backhands.
“That’s how I see the game. That’s how I like to play it. Those are the things I like to improve in practices and then bring them to the field.”
It’s nice to see Muchova back, and nice to see her succeeding with the kind of exploratory tennis that gets purists excited, but isn’t always considered the most efficient — or effective. It’s hard to do what Muchova does, that’s why no one plays that way anymore.
You try hitting a diving volley at 100 MPH and then tell me all tennis players go to the net more.
Credit to Muchova for not only pulling it off, but making herself a real threat to win majors while doing so.
Before they meet in the Roland-Garros 2022 final, Iga Swiatek had this to say about Muchova.
“I really like her game, honestly. I really respect her and she is a player who can do anything. She has great touch; it can also speed up the game. She plays with that kind of…I don’t know…freedom in her movements. And she has a great technique. So I watched her matches and I feel like I know her game very well.”
Serve-and-volley, the sport’s vanished albatross, is the domain of the few on tour these days. Credit Muçova for keeping him alive. She has tried the tactic on 14 percent of her service points at the US Open, a higher percentage than any other player among the 256 singles players in the main draw.
And, she has earned 86 percent of those points.
Credit Muchova for making 2024 the new 1924 – long live art, feel and touch.
