DONNA VEKIC walks alongside Croatian greats Luka Modric and Josko Gvardiol in her homeland.
Having reached the Wimbledon semi-finals and earned an Olympic silver medal last summer, the 29-year-old achieved hero status in the Balkan country.
Vekic rubbed shoulders with Modric at the Laureus Awards back in April, while she has since joined Gvardiol in becoming an ambassador for luxurious fashion brand Mackage.
Hot on the heels of becoming the latest of her country’s sporting icons, the 5ft 10in star enthusiastically told SunSport of Modric: “He’s the biggest hero in Croatia.
“Everywhere around the world when they ask me where I’m from, I say ‘Croatia’ and they say ‘ah, Modric’. Luka Modric is a great guy, Gvardiol is also amazing, playing for Man City.
“He was the one before me, now it’s me and it’s great company to be in.”
On the court, last summer was bittersweet for Vekic, having suffered the most heartbreaking defeat of her career following a blistering run to the Wimbledon semis.
In arguably the most memorable match of last year’s tournament, the likeable star broke down in tears during the closing stages of her 2-6 6-4 7-6 defeat to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.
The loss made Vekic want to quit tennis for a while… but just weeks later she had brushed it off to win Olympic silver.
On the quick turnaround, Vekic said: “I was lucky that the Olympics was so close to Wimbledon because if they weren’t then I think I would have been done for a while. It was really heartbreaking.
BBC’s Wimbledon line-up in full
Presenters:
Clare Balding, Isa Guha, Qasa Alom, Gigi Salmon, Clare McDonnell, Steve Crossman
Commentators: Andrew Castle, Chris Bradnam, James Burridge, Naomi Cavaday, Matt Chilton, Andrew Cotter, Katharine Downes, Paul Hand, Abigail Johnson, Robbie Koenig, David Law, Nick Lester, Ronald Mcintosh, Alison Mitchell, Nick Mullins, Pete Odgers, Simon Reed, Candy Reid, Andy Stevenson, Russell Fuller, Jonathan Overend, Iain Carter, Sara Orchard, Maz Farookhi, Claire Thomas, James Gregg, Delyth Lloyd, Chris Dennis, Shourjo Sarkar, Shabnam Younus-Jewell
Pundits:
John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Pat Cash, Tracy Austin, Tim Henman, Annabel Croft, Joe Durie, Colin Fleming, Daniela Hantuchova, Dom Inglot, Anne Keothavong, Alicia Molik, Ryan Harrison, John Lloyd, Nick Monroe, Arvind Parmar, Louise Pleming, Sam Smith, Liz Smylie, Mel South, Todd Woodbridge, Jayant Mistry, Louise Hunt, Katie O’Brien, Kim Clijsters, Laura Robson, Naomi Broady, Mark Woodforde, Jeff Tarango, Leon Smith, Coco Vandeweghe, Greg Rusedski, Daniele Hantuchova, Cara Black, Marion Bartoli
“I went back to Croatia and tried to forget about it but everywhere I went people had been watching and would be like ‘bad luck, bad luck’ – but then the next question was ‘how you doing for the Olympics?’ and I was like ‘Oh my God, really?’
“I didn’t want to go – I was ill, I was injured, it was tough. But then when I got to Paris, the energy of the village, of other athletes from other sports really brought me up.”
Now back in SW19 – 12 months on from her heartache – Vekic now believes that she can walk with the swagger of a tournament favourite.
“Coming on grass, no one will like to see me in the draw,” Vekic confidently told SunSport.
“Women’s tennis is at such a high level now, everyone is playing such good tennis so really everyone has a chance to beat everyone and you have to be 100 per cent every match.”
Vekic opens her Wimbledon campaign against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell, and is a potential third round opponent for British No2 Katie Boulter.
Following her run in 2024, however, Vekic has her eyes on a far greater prize.
“Things came together last year, hopefully they will again this year and maybe I can go a little bit further,” she confidently claimed.
When SunSport pointed out that any further would mean reaching the final, Vekic didn’t shy away from her ambition, adding: “There’s not much further, once you get so close to it you feel, you see that you are there, and that you can go for the title.
“I don’t see why not.”
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