It will be all white for Cibulkova on ladies’ final day

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) – The good news for Wimbledon’s newest tennis darling is that, come women’s final day on Saturday, Dominka Cibulkova will be slipping into an all-white outfit.

But rather than striding on to the All England Club’s famed Centre Court for a chance to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish, the Slovakian will be walking down the aisle to keep a long-standing wedding date with her fiance Miso Navara in Bratislava.

When the 18th seed surpassed her own poor grasscourt expectations to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, it looked like the bride could be a no-show for her own big day.

However, Elena Vesnina’s 6-2 6-2 win over Cibulkova on Tuesday saved her the hassle of a last-minute rejig of her wedding plans.

“Tomorrow I will realize that I had a great grasscourt season.I will just look forward to the wedding, because everything is ready,” said Cibulkova, a finalist at the 2014 Australian Open.

“It was just a great two weeks for me. If you’d told me before the tournament I would win (the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in) Eastbourne and reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, I wouldn’t take you seriously.”

So will there be any mixed feelings on Saturday?

“No, no, no,” insisted Cibulkova, whose party trick involves being blindfolded and identifying balls from the four grand slams by simply sniffing them.

“If I would be still here, I would just think about tennis.What I do, I do hundred percent.I will get married hundred percent, not thinking about tennis.”

And which exotic destination will she be heading for after the ceremony?

“No honeymoon. We don’t have time for that.”

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by John Stonestreet)