How a late-night S.O.S. and a childhood bond saved Donna Vekic’s Season
The middle of a tennis season is a brutal time to look in the mirror. By June, the repetitive rhythm of the tour has either propelled you into a groove or ground you into a rut.
For Donna Vekic, the first few months of the year had been defined by the latter.
Plagued by inconsistent results and a lingering viral illness that derailed her preparation, the Croatian powerhouse found herself trapped in a maze of self-doubt.
So, two weeks before the grass-court season was set to begin, she did something radical. She picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number, looking backward to find her way forward. On the other end of the line was David Felgate.
Tennis changes, trends come and go, and modern strategies shift with the data, but human history cannot be erased.
Felgate is the man who built Vekic’s game from the ground up, coaching her when she was just a 12-year-old girl with raw talent and a fierce competitive streak. He was the one who accompanied her to London for her very first taste of the grandest stage in the sport.
“You know, it’s always tricky when you’re changing coaches in the middle of the season, but I’m really proud of myself that I took this decision and I’m really grateful to David for being able to help me and being on board straight away,” Vekic reflected after capturing the title at Queen’s Club, dispatching home favorite Emma Raducanu in a tense final.
The gamble to overhaul her box right before the surface switch could have backfired beautifully.
Grass is an unforgiving terrain that demands absolute technical precision and complete mental clarity. Bad bounces, skidding balls, and lightning-fast rallies leave zero room for internal hesitation. If you are doubting your game, grass will expose it in seconds.
Yet, standing on the lush courts of London, lifting a trophy that felt almost impossible just seven days prior, Vekic knew exactly whom to thank for her natural affinity for the surface.
“We worked together when I was 12 years old,” Vekic said, reflecting on the foundation that carried her through the week. “He raised me as a player. He took me to Wimbledon for the first time. Like I said on court, I wouldn’t even know what grass is without him.”
The reunion provided an instant antidote to the psychological weight Vekic had been carrying.
Earlier in the week, things looked grim. She arrived in London feeling under the weather, and the British summer responded with a chaotic mixture of howling wind and persistent rain delays.
A year ago, or even two months ago, the frustration might have boiled over. But with Felgate back in her corner, the atmosphere shifted from panic to perspective.
When the final against Raducanu turned into a grueling, high-stakes chess match in the second set, Vekic didn’t fold.
Despite winning the first set 6-0 — a scoreline she later admitted can be “a curse sometimes” because of how it shifts expectations — she weathered Raducanu’s furious comeback.
As the stadium erupted for the British star, Vekic remained anchored. She fell back on the fundamental, blue-collar tennis principles drilled into her over a decade ago.
“So it’s a little bit of a full circle moment winning this title with him here and I’m really happy for for him, for me, for us and all the work, you know, not that we did now in the last 2 weeks, but the work that we did when I was 12 years old,” Vekic said.
The victory at Queen’s Club is a validation of longevity.
In a sport that often chews up and spits out teenage prodigies, Vekic and Felgate’s narrative is a refreshing reminder that the relationships formed at the roots of a career can still bear fruit at the highest level.
