The 18-year-old is becoming one of the fastest rising stocks in European tennis, rocketing up the charts from number 239 at the start of 2025, and demonstrated she belongs at the elite level by securing her second main draw Grand Slam victory in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Curiously, Valentova has defeated a home nation opponent on both occasions.
Despite the 2026 Australian Open being just the second senior Grand Slam of her four-year career, Valentova is already beginning to make a habit of taking on home crowds, having also defeated French wildcard Chloé Paquet in the first round of the 2025 Australian Open.
There was nigh an empty seat to be seen at the 10,000-capacity John Cain Arena at Melbourne Park where Valentova took advantage of an uncharacteristically poor performance from Joint, whose serve, discipline and error count at crucial stages of the match was well short of Grand Slam standards.
The aura of the occasion was not too much for Valentova who, despite notching up 37 unforced errors herself, was able to gain control of the second set with two early breaks and hold that control through the remainder of the straight sets victory.
Valentova will take very strong favouritism into a second-round clash with rank no. 132 Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, who worked her way through the qualifiers before earning a hard-fought win over New Zealand's Lulu Sun.
It's sure to be a bright and encouraging display of the future of Czech tennis when the pair meets later this week.
Congratulations! It doesn’t get much better than winning your debut match at a new Grand Slam. Tell us how excited you’re feeling right now.
"It was really good, I enjoyed it so much. It was a big crowd, a big stadium. I know they were cheering for her (Maya Joint) but I tried to enjoy it as much as I could."
It wasn’t your first experience playing against a home nation player at a Grand Slam, having done so at the French Open last year, but can you please touch on what it was like to play against both the crowd and a very tough opponent.
"I was prepared mentally for that (since seeing the draw). I played against a French girl in the French Open last year - that was so much worse - but it gave me a lot of interesting experiences. The crowd and the atmosphere today was amazing. I'm just glad that I went through (to the next round)."
I felt that was one of the most entertaining games of the tournament so far - a real tug of war with a lot of changes of momentum. Is it better to win tough than win easy early in a tournament to harden yourself up for future rounds?
"It depends. It was certainly a tough match though. I'm just glad that I made it through to the next round. She played some really good tennis. Sometimes it's good to have a tough first round."
We already have several players from the Czech Republic through to the second round of the women’s draw now, as I’ve just found out you’ll be up against Linda Fruhvirtova in the next round. How much do you know about her game and what’s it like facing a compatriot in a tournament?
"I don't know much about her. We see each other only sometimes and I haven't played against her so I don't know (what to expect) but I'm sure it'll be a really good match. It's just a shame we won't be playing on a really big court! I'm still looking forward to the match though and hopefully it ends in my favour."
We haven’t had a Czech winner at the Australian Open since 1998. Do you think this could be the year the drought ends?
(laughing) “Hopefully, yeah!”