Donna Vekić makes history in London: wins Queen’s Club and her fifth WTA title

Sometimes the greatest victories do not come when everything goes according to plan, but when you have to endure the moment the plan falls apart - and still remain stay ready. That's exactly why the title Donna Vekic won at London's Queen's Club is not just the fifth WTA trophy of her career. It is a story about a second chance, about the grass courts that have brought out the very best in her for years, and about an athlete who has learned how to stay strong even when her body, physical fitnes and circumstances are not working perfectly in her favour.

Donna arrived in London as a "lucky loser" after losing in the final round of qualifying. And yet, from that seemingly secondary position, she achieved something no woman had ever done before her - she won a WTA 500 tournament, the biggest title of her career so far, and became the first lucky loser champion at that level in the history of women's tennis.

How Donna Turned "Lucky Loser" Status into the Biggest Title of Her Career

That is precisely why this story carries extra weight: it did not begin with a victory, but with a defeat. Donna lost to Anna Blinkova in qualifying, and she herself later admitted that she was not feeling her best in the opening days of the tournament. But when Marta Kostyuk withdrew and Donna was given a second chance to enter the main draw, she used it in a way that makes this achievement even greater. As she said herself, just a few days before the final she thought her run was over.

"Lucky loser" may sound like luck, but in sport luck matters only if you are ready to recognise the moment and seize the opportunity in front of you. In London, Donna did that perfectly. To reach the fifth title of her career, she had to win five matches in a row, including two in a single day, before defeating the home favourite Emma Raducanu in the final.

Queen's Club and WTA 500: A Stage That Confirms You Belong at the Top

Queen's Club is not just another event on the calendar. It is one of the most prestigious names of the grass-court season and a venue that carries special tradition in tennis. Matches have been played on those courts since 1889, and the women's Tour only returned to that stage at WTA 500 level last year, after more than 50 years. This is a tournament with both sporting weight and historic significance.

And WTA 500 is no minor category. It sits just below the Grand Slams, the WTA 1000 events and the season-ending Finals - the territory of elite women's tennis, major ranking points, strong draws and serious prestige. That is why this title for Donna is far more than "just another trophy".

Five Wins, Five Different Challenges, and a Final Against the Home Favourite

On her way to the title, Donna defeated Mika Stojsavljevic (WTA No. 261), Marie Bouzkova (WTA No. 47), Karolina Pliskova (WTA No. 170), Katie Boulter (WTA No. 39), and in the final Emma Raducanu (WTA No. 38), the local favourite and one of the main stories of the London tournament.

That path showed the full range of Donna's game on grass - from the youth and freedom of Stojsavljevic, through the experience of Bouzkova and Pliskova, to the energy of the home crowd behind Boulter and, ultimately, Raducanu. In the final, Donna triumphed 6-0, 7-6 and stayed composed exactly when it mattered most. She trusted her game and took control in the key moments.

London and Grass as a Continuation of the Great Wimbledon Story from 2024

Donna has always looked especially convincing on grass. She herself said that she feels better every day on the surface from match to match, and that she sees London as her second home - a city where she spent a lot of time in her younger years, training and growing.

That is why Queen's 2026 does not feel like a random flash of brilliance, but rather a continuation of a story we already saw in 2024, when Donna reached the Wimbledon semi-finals and won Olympic silver in Paris. Two years later, she returned to the grass courts and once again confirmed that this is the surface on which she knows how to find her very best level.

A Rise Up in the WTA Rankings as Proof of Lasting Quality

Winning the WTA 500 title in London did not just bring Donna the biggest title of her career - it also marked a powerful return among the world's best players. Just three months earlier, she was ranked No. 117 in the WTA rankings, and the title at Queen's Club lifted her 43 places to No. 33, making her once again the highest-ranked Croatian female tennis player.

And while ranking matters - it shapes draws, status and a player's path through the season - it never tells the whole story. Professional tennis is lived almost eleven months a year, through constant travel, surface changes, recovery, physical challenges and the kind of mental focus that has to stay high from week to week. In that rhythm, fluctuations are normal, and true continuity is seen in the ability to come back again and again.

Donna Vekic was already playing WTA finals as a teenager, and today, in the year she turns 30, she has nearly a decade and a half of top-level tennis behind her. She has been in the Top 20, and she has also been lower down the rankings, but she has remained present among the best and kept returning to the level where she can play big matches and win big tournaments.

 

As Billie Jean King once said: "Champions keep playing until they get it right." Donna's career shows exactly that - and that may be her greatest strength.

 

David Felgate, Family, and the People Behind Every Great Success

In Donna's story, success is never purely individual. After the London title, a special spotlight once again fell on David Felgate, the coach who worked with Donna when she was just 12 years old and who, as she herself says, helped shape her into the player she is today. Their renewed partnership ahead of the grass-court season brought results very quickly.

Just as important is the family that goes through everything with Donna - victories, defeats, travel, sacrifice and the daily work behind the scenes. Her greatest support comes from her father Igor Vekic, who is also the head of Donna's tennis team, her mother Brankica, and her brother Bruno, who fulfilled his dream of becoming a pilot and now often takes her by plane to tournaments. Every achieved goal, as Igor Vekic has said, opens the door to new dreams. After London, her focus is already turning toward the next challenges.

From the home favourite Emma Raducanu and the energy of the British crowd to the silence of the winning moment after the final point, Donna showed once again in London what kind of athlete she has become: one who understands that a career is never a straight line, but also one who knows how to stay strong enough that, when the opportunity opens again, she is fully ready to walk through it.

"I don't win because it's easy. I win because I didn't give up."