"Had to collect scrap metal just to keep us alive": The remarkable rags to riches story of Linda Noskova told by her father

Linda Noskova managed to lift the Wimbledon trophy this past weekend seeing off Karolina Muchova in the final and her father Drahos Nosek spoke about their story from rags to riches.

Noskova picking up over £3m in sealing the title, the same as Jannik Sinner, her life changes and so does her family. One that saw them start off with nothing to eat and nowhere to live as Noskova's father dictated.

He said that he worked as a train dispatcher and that they would sleep at the train station as a family as well as collecting scrap metal in order to make ends meet. So for him to be there to watch his daughter achieve what she did is a heartwarming story in particular of the recent Grand Slam victors.

"Jesus, that’s a story for a book. From absolutely zero to a hundred. We started out with basically nothing to eat and nowhere to live," said Drahos to iSport.

“My wife and I had both just gotten divorced from our previous marriages; we left all our possessions to our exes and started over. When Linda was born, I was three thousand in the red every month.

“My wife had nothing; I worked as a train dispatcher and had to collect scrap metal just to keep us alive. Things didn’t improve until my parents passed away; the little house was sold, and I paid off the debts. That’s when we were finally able to buy at least a car and get by somehow.

“Until then, as a train dispatcher, I at least had free train rides. So we’d take the train to Prague, and all four of us would sleep at the station for five hundred.

“I remember that back then, a police officer’s daughter was performing, and then our Linda. Everyone else had rich dads who paid for it, and moms who travelled with them. What the two of us did… It was awful – we really hit rock bottom to make it possible for her.”

Noskova thanked her mother who passed away two years ago and so wasn't there to see her lift her ultimate prize and got emotional as a result.

“There is also one more person I would like to thank, which is my mum. I definitely would not be standing here without her, so thank you. You guys, I don’t cry normally. This is not okay for me!”

Her father chimed in about her mother and also praised the character of Noskova saying that she won't change in reality and will in fact continue to grow as a person without letting money or titles get to her. “My wife and I gave it our all. For us parents, it was five or six years of giving Linda our all,” he said. “It gives me chills when I think about it, because my wife gave it her all. And I’m so sorry she’s not here with us anymore. But that’s how it goes sometimes.”

“A classic introvert. I can’t really see into her soul either, but she’s an incredibly kind and clever girl. She likes all kinds of sports. When we lived alone, we were fooling around and she would spend three hours shovelling snow from the dam so we could skate.”

“She’ll handle it. She’s not the type who would immediately think she’s a world champion,” he said. “She’s got it all together in her head. She’s planning another big non-tennis event in the fall. Maybe she wants to jump off a tower, help in Africa or something… I like that, she has a great perspective.”