LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - For most 21-year-old players in their first Grand Slam final, squandering five match points from a position of complete domination would represent an existential crisis that would be impossible to recover from.
Linda Noskova proved she is made of tougher stuff though as she banished the mental demons and recovered her equilibrium to beat fellow Czech and friend Karolina Muchova 6-2 5-7 6-3 in the Wimbledon showpiece.
When the ninth seed led 5-2 in the second set, it seemed only a matter of minutes before she would be lifting aloft the Venus Rosewater Dish on a sunlit Centre Court and join an illustrious list of fellow Czechs to win the title.
Instead, she saw three match points come and go as Muchova served at 2-5, served a double-fault on another one at 5-3 as the nerves took hold of her right arm and then watched as yet another one went begging in the ninth game.
By the time Muchova had reeled off five consecutive games to send the final into a deciding set that had never looked likely, Noskova looked shell-shocked, walking towards her chair covering her ears to block out the roars of the crowd.
As she departed for a comfort break, her title hopes looked shot, but something shiny caught her eye on the route to the bathroom and it was enough to snap her back into life.
"I was just telling myself that the match is starting over. I was in the bathroom. I just splashed some cold water on me, started over again," she told reporters.
"But what really helped me, like the first step I took off court, the trophies were there. I was like, I'm not going to take the small one, I'm taking the big one. I have been so close. This will probably be the heartbreak of my life.
"I was looking at the big one. I was like, I'm taking this one no matter what. I'm going to leave my soul on court."
When she returned she somehow held serve in the first game of the third set and a switch was flicked. The timing returned on her groundstrokes, the feet began to move and when she reached match points at 5-3, more than an hour after her first one, this time she would not be denied.
"Let's say I'm brave enough to say that the third set would not have been the same if maybe I would have lost the first game," Noskova, the third Czech to win the women's title in four years and the youngest women's champion since compatriot Petra Kvitova won the first of her two titles in 2011, said.
"I lost five games in a row in the second one, so it was very, very important to start off great."
Noskova, who wears a nose ring, clearly has an old head on young shoulders with a world view way beyond the confines of a tennis court. So perhaps it's not surprising that she handled a tough moment in Saturday's final with such aplomb.
She spoke emotionally of her mother Ivana who died two years ago from cancer and throughout her career has impressed observers with her level-headed approach to life.
Last year she spent part of her off-season in Zanzibar, volunteering for a charity by working at a school.
"When I came back, I was definitely more appreciative of everything that I have," she said earlier this week.
Noskova grew up in a village in a Czech forest and has also expressed her concern for environmental issues and already has a career plan mapped out after she is done with tennis.
"I'm very much like a nature lover, I want to do some volunteering with nature in the next months or years. I have always been very active during whatever crisis," she said after beating Marta Kostyuk in the semi-finals on Thursday.
For now though, she just wants to let her achievement sink in. "It was all worth it, so I will definitely never forget this week, these two weeks," she said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
