PARIS — Karolina Muchova’s look of bemusement and confusion, when asked about the origins of her all-court, creative game style, speaks for itself.
“I think it was always a little bit inside of me,” Muchova said. “Since I was a kid I liked the great game in everything. I was very competitive, and I liked different things.
“Even if we look back on videos when I was really young, you would still find me going to the net and playing drop shots. So it was, I would say, always there.”
From stick volleys to tweeners, healthy Muchova looking dangerous again
Traditional tennis aficionados will find Muchova’s game a visual delight, and it will be on display Thursday when she takes on World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the Roland Garros semifinals. Ranked No.43 after injuries knocked her out of much of the 2021 and early 2022 seasons, Muchova made good as one of the most dangerous unseeded players at a Slam.
She paved her own path here in Paris by ousting No.8 seed Maria Sakkari in the first round before beating another former semifinalist, Nadia Podoroska, in the second round. Tack on a trio of straight-set wins over 27th seed Irina Camelia Begu, Elina Avanesyan and 2021 runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Muchova is into her second career Grand Slam semifinal.
French Open: Scores | Order of play | Draw
Even if it’s still her least favorite surface.
“She’s old-school,” Martina Navratilova said. “Classic tennis all around. No massive weapon, but her biggest weapon is her variety.
“She’s got a nice slice, she slices it better than most, and you’re not going to get a lot of offense off the slice. And then quite often she throws in the drop shot. You just don’t know if she’s going to go for it or hit the drop shot.
Muchova bests Pavlyuchenkova at Roland Garros; makes second major semifinal
“She’s comfortable anywhere on the court, and tennis is about making your opponent hit shots they don’t want to hit.”
Muchova’s acrobatics have landed her frequently on the monthly list of hot shots. In February in Dubai, she constructed a point that involved an impossible retrieval, an improvised flick volley before a tweener that left jaws gaping.