Linda Nosková (Czech pronunciation:[ˈlɪndaˈnoskovaː]; born 17 November 2004) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking by the WTA of No. 25, achieved on 26 August 2024, and a doubles ranking of No. 60, set on 19 August 2024. She won her first WTA Tour title at the 2024 Monterrey Open. Her best Grand Slam singles performance is reaching the quarterfinals at the 2024 Australian Open, defeating world No. 1, Iga Świątek.
In August 2022, she became the youngest player ranked in the world's top 100 and in February 2023 the youngest in the top 50. On the ITF Circuit, she has collected six singles titles and one doubles title. Her biggest title win so far came at the $100k Reinert Open in Versmold in 2022.
From an early age, Nosková showed signs of becoming a promising tennis player. As a junior, she peaked at world No. 5 in the rankings, achieved on 14 June 2021. She won the 2021 French Open in the girls' singles event and made the semifinals of the girls' doubles event, as well as the girls' doubles quarterfinals of the 2020 Australian Open.
Nosková grew up in the village of Bystřička in the Vsetín region. Her first touch with tennis was at the age of seven, when she started training in Valašské Meziříčí. Three years later, she became a player for TK Na Dolina in Trojanovice near Frenštát pod Radhoštěm. In 2018, she moved to Přerov because of tennis.[1]
Nosková made her ITF Circuit debut in July 2019 at the $25k Torino tournament in qualifying. Despite failing to reach the main-draw, she got to the quarterfinal in the doubles event. In October of the same year, she made her singles main-draw debut at the $15k Lousada tournament and also won her first match as a senior. The following week, in the same city, she reached her first semifinal. A month later, she reached another semifinal, this time at the $15k Milovice event in her home country.
Her new season started in August 2020 with the qualifying draw of the Prague Open, but she lost to Laura Ioana Paar. Three weeks later, she made her debut at the WTA Challenger Tour, playing at the Sparta Prague Open. Getting there after receiving a wildcard, she lost to Mayar Sherif in the first round. She finished her season with the $25k Přerov event where she lost to Barbora Krejčíková in the first round. It was only her third tournament of the year as well as her only tournament in doubles. In doubles, she also lost in the first round.
Nosková started the 2021 season in the middle of February at the $15k Sharm El Sheikh event where she reached her first ITF final. After losing to Shalimar Talbi in the final, she reached another semifinal there the following week. In March 2021, she won her first senior ITF title at a $15k event in Bratislava, defeating fellow Czech Tereza Smitková in the final.[4] Right after that, she won another $15k event in Bratislava (back-to-back titles),[5] this time defeating Iva Primorac in the final. In June 2021, she advanced to the semifinals of the Macha Lake Open in Staré Splavy in both events, losing to Zheng Qinwen in singles. It was her first semifinal of a $60k event, but in August, she won her first $60k title at the Zubr Cup in Přerov. In the final, she defeated Alexandra Cadanțu-Ignatik.[6] In October, she advanced to her first ITF final in doubles. A month later, she finished the year at the $25k Milove tournament where she won her fourth title in singles[7] and finished as a runner-up in doubles.
In July, she won her first $100k title, at the Reinert Open defeating Ysaline Bonaventure in the final.[15] Three weeks later, she entered her first WTA Tour semifinal at the Prague Open where she lost to compatriot and later champion, Marie Bouzková.[16] There she marked her first top 50 win, after defeating Alizé Cornet in the second round.[17] This result led her into the top 100 for the first time, at world No. 94, becoming the youngest woman in the top 100, a distinction Coco Gauff previously held since October 2019. By reaching the semifinals, she became the youngest Czech woman to reach a tour-level semifinal since Vaidišová (17 years, 189 days) in Linz in 2006.[18]
At the US Open, she competed in her second Grand Slam qualifying and advanced to the main draw with three qualifying wins. In the second round, she defeated former top-10 player Eugenie Bouchard.[19][20] However, she lost in the first round of the main draw to Bouzková in a three-set match.[21]
2023: First two top-10 wins & WTA final, two WTA 1000 third rounds, top 40
Ranked No. 102 at the start of the Adelaide International 1, she came through qualifying beating Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova to make the main draw. In the first round, she beat world No. 8, Daria Kasatkina, to get her first top 10 win,[22] and in the second, she beat fellow qualifier Claire Liu to make her first WTA 500 quarterfinal.[23] She defeated 2-time major champion and former world No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, in a three-set thriller in the quarterfinals, winning the final set tiebreak 8–6, while also saving one match point.[24] She then beat top seed and world No. 2, Ons Jabeur, to reach her first ever WTA Tour final which she lost to second seed Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.[25] As a result, she moved close to 50 positions up in the rankings to No. 56.[26] Despite being ranked well inside the top 100 by the start of the Australian Open, Nosková needed to play qualifying in order to gain entry to the main draw, due to the sudden nature of her rise up the rankings. However, she lost in the first round of qualifying to world No. 192, Katherine Sebov.[27] Despite this result she reached No. 50 in the rankings on 6 February 2023 becoming the youngest player in the top 50.
At the Indian Wells Open, she reached the third round of a WTA 1000 for the first time in her debut at this level, defeating 31st seed Amanda Anisimova.[28]
On her debut at the Australian Open, she recorded her first wins there over 31st seed and compatriot, Marie Bouzková, and wildcard McCartney Kessler to reach the third round. She then stunned world No. 1, Iga Świątek, to move to the fourth round of a major event for the first time in her career.[31] She became the first teenager to defeat a world No. 1 at this major since 1999, when Amélie Mauresmo shocked Lindsay Davenport.[32] She advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time after the retirement of 19th seed Elina Svitolina in the fourth round. As a result, she reached the top 30 in the singles rankings on 29 January 2024.[33]
At the WTA 500 Monterrey Open, she defeated Wang Xiyu and fifth seed and former champion Elina Svitolina to reach her third semifinal for the season, following Brisbane and Prague.[34] She defeated second seed Emma Navarro in straight sets to reach her first tour final of the season.[35] She won her maiden WTA Tour title with also a straight sets victory over Lulu Sun.[36]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[37]
^ abcdThe first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
^Withdrawal during the tournament not counted as a loss.