“Federer style, Alcaraz style.” When 19-year-old Nikola Bartunkova a year ago iSport.cz When describing her game, the tennis gem did not shy away from comparisons with her great role models: “All the aggressive players – that has been my inspiration since I was a child. I love volleys, stop balls, everything, because I know that opponents don’t like that. That’s exactly why I play like that.”
On Thursday, Bartunkova demonstrated her attractive game and versatile skills for the first time in a really big match. Before her duel with world number ten Belinda Bencic in the second round, the Czech had never played against a top 20 player.
The signs were correspondingly clearly distributed. An inexperienced talent met the strongest player in the world alongside Aryna Sabalenka, who had gone twelve matches without defeat since October and defeated, among others, Iga Swiatek at the beginning of the year. Her Swiss teammate Stan Wawrinka also said two weeks ago at the United Cup that everyone was currently “living in Belinda’s world”.
In addition, Bartunkova was eliminated in the first round of the WTA 125 tournament in Canberra at the beginning of the month and was therefore anything but at her best.
Despite 0:6! Bartunkova wins with “successful mix”
But the outsider played sensational tennis in 2:12 hours and ensured the first exit of a top 10 player at this year’s Australian Open against Bencic. In her victory, Bartunkova also demonstrated enormous nerves.
After a 6:3 at the start, a bitter 0:6 slap followed in the second set – but the tennis jewel fought back and won the final set (6:4). The Czech hit incredible winners again and again and even drew the spectators, who were initially more on Bencic’s side, more and more to her side with her spectacular tennis.
The two-time Wimbledon junior finalist already had this versatility iSport.cz emphasizes: “My tennis is unpredictable. I play something different every time so that my opponents don’t know which ball is coming.”
After her coup against Bencic, she also spoke of “a dream that comes true because it was an incredible match for me.” The favored Bencic also conceded SRF a: “I’m certainly disappointed, but I have to congratulate my opponent. She probably played the match of her life. I don’t think I can blame myself very much.”
Doping? When Bartunkova had to worry for six months
In 2024, however, a dark shadow had fallen over Bartunkova’s career. On April 16, she was provisionally suspended after two positive doping tests on the ITF tour.
The substance found was trimetazidine, a drug used to treat circulatory disorders in the heart and which is intended to increase the organ’s performance and endurance.
After Bartunkova repeatedly and vehemently protested her innocence, it took until November 11, 2024 for the responsible International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to acknowledge the circumstances.
“After completing the investigation, the ITIA acknowledged that the positive tests were due to contamination of a nutritional supplement containing milk thistle extract, that the violation was not intentional and that the player was not guilty of significant guilt or negligence,” it said in a statement at the time.
Australian Open: Czech Republic is now really getting going
After both parties agreed on a six-month ban, which was applied retroactively since her suspension, Bartunkova was able to return to the big tennis stage.
Last year she finally achieved her breakthrough, as a result of which she climbed from place 537 to 126 in the world rankings.
On Saturday Bartunkova could continue her success story at the Australian Open against number 21 seed Elise Mertens in the round of 16.
