WATCH: Muchova loses crucial point for celebrating too early at Australian Open
NewsWednesday, 21 January 2026 at 19:10
Karolina Muchova lost a very crucial point during her second-round match at the 2026 Australian Open for celebrating a bit too early.
Muchova is always one of the dark horses when entering a major tournament. She is one of the most talented players on the WTA Tour, but her body betrays her just too often for the Czech player to be a stable part of the Top 10.
The 2023 Roland Garros finalist beat Jaqueline Cristian in her first match at this year's Australian Open 6-3, 7-6(6), and in the second round, her opponent was Alycia Parks. The American is always a tricky opponent, and such was Muchova's second-round match.
The Czech player lost the first set of the match 4-6, but fought back to win the second set 6-4 and force the decider. Muchova started well in the third set, breaking her opponent's serve in the first game of the set.
Yet, only a few games later, Muchova was in trouble. She faced a total of four break points in the fourth game when leading 2-1. One of those break points came as a direct consequence of Muchova's rarely-seen mistake.
At 2-1 and 40-40, the 29-year-old Czech hit a great backhand, which turned her defensive position into an offensive one. However, Muchova thought her backhand was so good that it was a winner, and she started celebrating it with a loud scream.
To her surprise, Parks got to the ball in time, which meant the umpire of the match had to stop the play, awarding the point to the American player because of a hindrance. It was Parks' fourth break point of the game, but she couldn't use the chance, as Muchova held after six deuces.
The Czech player can now look on the mistake as a funny story, as she won the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and it ultimately didn't cost her the win. After the match, she spoke about the moment, saying it was the first time something like that had happened to her.
"I guess it shows how focused I was in the match (laughs). I thought she wouldn't be there anymore, that I played a backhand too fast. But she runs fast, she's tall. She touched the ball and because of that I lost the rally. It's never happened to me before, it was my first time. I'm glad I won the game in the end. It was quite important."
The match was also stopped because of rain at 4-2 in the third set. It was another challenge that both players had to deal with, but Muchova handled all of the challenges in her way to set up a third-round match with Magda Linette. She explained how that break impacted her.
"The umpire told us that, according to the radar, it wouldn't be a long rain. It was supposed to be about forty minutes. There's nothing you can do about that. At first, he wanted to keep us on the court, then he sent us inside. At least I had time to take a warm shower. Then I warmed up again and went for it."
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