Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova's father reflects on humble beginnings

The image of Noskova's father Drahos Nosek with a shirt drenched from the heat, spreading his arms wide to celebrate his daughter's Wimbledon title will be etched into memory forever.

That was the celebration of a man who knows just how much the family went through as they started from humble beginnings before Noskova reached the top in tennis.

The 21-year-old Linda has become the latest Czech sensation after she beat compatriot Karolina Muchova in the final at the All England Club to win her maiden Grand Slam trophy.

With the win, Noskova earned a cheque of $4,830,756 to take her prize money for the 2026 season to $6,188,432 while she has taken her career earnings to $10,749,051.

Money, of course, was the last thing on Noskova's or her father's mind when she was competing in the final, but the family has come a long way from their humble beginnings.

In an interview with the Czech Republic's iSport, Drahos revealed: "Jesus, that's a story for a book. From absolutely zero to a hundred. We started out with basically nothing to eat and nowhere to live.

"My wife and I had both just gotten divorced from our previous marriages; we left all our possessions to our exes and started over. When Linda was born, I was three thousand in the red every month.

"My wife had nothing; I worked as a train dispatcher and had to collect scrap metal just to keep us alive. Things didn't improve until my parents passed away; the little house was sold, and I paid off the debts. That's when we were finally able to buy at least a car and get by somehow.

"Until then, as a train dispatcher, I at least had free train rides. So we'd take the train to Prague, and all four of us would sleep at the station for five hundred.

"I remember that back then, a police officer's daughter was performing, and then our Linda. Everyone else had rich dads who paid for it, and moms who travelled with them. What the two of us did⦠It was awful â- we really hit rock bottom to make it possible for her."

Noskova turned professional in 2019 and by 2022 she climbed into the top 100 of the WTA Rankings and she made her Grand Slam breakthrough at the 2024 Australian Open when she reached the quarter-final.

The family suffered an unimaginable loss in July 2024 as Noskova's mother, Ivana Noskova, passed away from cancer on the eve of Wimbledon.

But two years later, there was a happy ending at SW19 as Noskova won the title and she paid tribute to her mother during the trophy presentation ceremony, saying: "There is also one more person I would like to thank, which is my mum.

"I definitely would not be standing here without her, so thank you. You guys, I don't cry normally. This is not okay for me!"

And Drahos wished his wife was there to witness their daughter's crowning moment.

"My wife and I gave it our all. For us parents, it was five or six years of giving Linda our all," he said. "It gives me chills when I think about it, because my wife gave it her all. And I'm so sorry she's not here with us anymore. But that's how it goes sometimes."

As for his daughter, Drahos describes her as an introvert.

"A classic introvert. I can't really see into her soul either, but she's an incredibly kind and clever girl. She likes all kinds of sports. When we lived alone, we were fooling around and she would spend three hours shovelling snow from the dam so we could skate."

As for Linda changing after winning Wimbledon, her father is confident she's "got it all together in her head".

"She'll handle it. She's not the type who would immediately think she's a world champion," he said. "She's got it all together in her head. She's planning another big non-tennis event in the fall. Maybe she wants to jump off a tower, help in Africa or something⦠I like that, she has a great perspective."

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