Karolína Plíšková is a Czech tennis player, a former world number one, known for her serve and her nickname the Ace Queen.
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Karolína Plíšková is a Czech tennis player who, according to Czech Television, was among the former world number ones. She is 185 centimetres tall and the basis of her game is her serve.[1]
The serve and the nickname
According to a Czech News Agency report of 5 September 2021, she was given the nickname Ace Queen for the first time at the US Open. She herself said that she did not come up with it and that she can do nothing about what people call her.[1] She used to pledge a contribution to charity for every ace. In her own words, she used to be more nervous when it was not going well for her, and this year she remembered a similar campaign again, remarking that they would go bankrupt in two matches.[1]
According to the report, her first serve averages around 175 km/h. At the 2021 US Open, at 190 km/h, she was the eleventh fastest player of the tournament. As the advantage of her serve she named the ability to place the ball in every direction and the same ball toss for different types of serve, which in her view makes it harder to read.[1]
The 2021 US Open
At the 2021 US Open, Plíšková served 52 aces over three matches. In the second round she hit 24 of them, which, according to the report, set a new record for the last Grand Slam of the season. In the third round she beat the Australian Ajla Tomljanović, using twenty aces to do so, and advanced to the round of 16.[1] According to her, her serve had not gone as well in the first half of the 2021 season. After Wimbledon, where she reached the final, it returned to its old form, however. She and her coach Sascha Bajin therefore changed some details and stabilised the ball toss.[1]
Wimbledon
Another Czech Television report describes her match at Wimbledon against the Olympic champion Mónica Puig. Plíšková beat her 6:0, 6:4, and the second set lasted 40 minutes. Her usual serve was her support. She was playing on Wimbledon's Centre Court for the third time in her career, and in the third round she was to face Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan, who, the report says, troubles her opponents with an unorthodox style of play.[2]