How a tumultuous decade on tour led unexpectedly to a magical run at Paris Olympics 2024: The Anna Karolina Schmiedlova story

Just under a decade ago, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova was a young prospect with a bright future awaiting her. It took her longer than expected, but the Slovak finally had her moment in the sun at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Having come into the tournament with an ordinary first half of 2024 under her belt, Schmiedlova, now 30, has turned heads with her run to the semifinal.

The fact that she had never made it past the semifinals at a tournament higher than the WTA 250 level justifies the gasps that her name, this deep in the draw at one of the biggest sporting stages, illicit.

But there’s more to her story than what meets the eye. To get you started on her long and arduous journey to the spotlight, we must follow up on the venue where she stands today, the French capital.

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Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, runner-up in Paris

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova was a successful junior.

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova was a successful junior, having made the final at the 2012 French Open. She beat future mainstays of the Tour, including Daria Gavrilova, Katerina Siniakova, and the then-top seed Taylor Townsend en route to the summit clash.

And while she lost to Annika Beck in three sets, Schmiedlova had announced her arrival on the big stage.

Just three years on, she would make three WTA Tour finals and win two of them. The big-hitting Slovak found herself at a career-high world ranking of No. 26 in October 2015, but little did she know that it was as good as it was going to get for at least the next decade.

Injuries and a loss of form followed just when she was in the ascendency and things have not been the same. In fact, before the Paris Olympics, the last time that Schmiedlova beat three top-50 players at the same tournament was back in 2015 itself — at Cincinnati.

The most difficult period for the Slovak had to be when the COVID-19 pandemic brought life to a standstill. She had just completed her rehab from knee surgery in mid-2019 and was raring to go when the Tour was suspended.

"I did many things I was dreaming about when I couldn't play tennis," Anna Karolina Schmiedlova told WTA in a September 2020 interview. "I travelled, I took some time off, I had really great preparation after the knee surgery. I did everything I wanted and I was really ready at the beginning of the year to play. I had a lot of energy, I was playing tennis without pain again, and I was especially looking forward to the clay tournaments."

Her love for tennis, the red dirt, and the French capital in particular kept her going. And as the proverb goes, good things come to those who wait.

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A Parisian resurgence

The French capital has been a happy hunting ground for Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

For all the success that she has had elsewhere, Paris has given Anna Karolina Schmiedlova hope when the going was tough.

With the Tour resuming after the pandemic-induced hiatus at the back end of 2020, the French Open was pushed back to September. There was an uproar over the tight scheduling with the US Open having ended just weeks ago, but Schmiedlova wasn’t among those complaining.

Raring to go, she got her first back-to-back wins at a Grand Slam since 2015 to make the third round. And against opponents — Grand Slam champions and former World No. 1s Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka.

The sting in the groundstrokes was back and so was the intent to better the past.

The Slovak finally broke past the third-round barrier at a Grand Slam last year. And yes, you guessed it. It was the French Open again, where she beat Viktoria Kudermetova, Aliona Bolsova and Kayla Day to reach the fourth round in what she at the time described as the “greatest achievement of my whole career."

"I thought it would be a dream to reach at least the third round here because it's my favorite tournament, definitely," Anna Karolina Schmiedlova told WTA last year. "Now I'm in the second week of a Grand Slam so it's the greatest achievement of my whole career."

Her parents had come to experience what Grand Slam tennis was all about but had to stay an extra week given that their daughter kept winning. But again, there were no complaints from the Slovak’s side.

Back in Paris, this time donning her country’s colors for the Olympics, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova has beaten Katie Boulter, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova already.

The last two were only her second and third wins over players ranked inside the top 10. And now, she finds herself just one win away from assuring herself of a famous medal.

“Emotion” read a social media post by ITF, tagging Schmiedlova after her win over Jasmine Paolini. And Paris indeed has been nothing short of an “emotion” for the Slovak, who once again finds herself back in the city she likes best, doing what she does best.