Karolina Muchova: ‘I looked up to Federer – I saw myself in that attacking style’

Karolina Muchova: ‘I felt like I was very close [in the French Open final]. So I proved to myself that I can do good, I can play the best. It’s very motivational’. Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

It is a question that comes up again and again. Just what is it about the Czech Republic that enables it to produce so many great players? From Martina Navratilova and Hana Mandlikova, back when it was Czechoslovakia, to Petr Korda, Jana Novotna and more recently Petra Kvitova and Barbora Krejcikova, a conveyor belt of grand slam title winners have hailed from a population of just 10.5 million people.

For Karolina Muchova, the latest Czech to reach a grand slam final, at Roland Garros last month, maybe the only tangible reason for the success is the fact that others have blazed a trail. “Maybe it’s because the younger girls practise with us,” she said on the eve of Wimbledon, where she will be the No 16 seed.