Jana Novotna, the Czech tennis player who won hearts and minds at Wimbledon in the 1990s, has died of cancer at the tender age of 49.

This video shows how Novotna lost the final to Steffi Graf in 1993 before returning to win the whole thing in 1998.

I have never really watched tennis, but I remember Novotna crying on the Duchess of Kent’s shoulder as the sadness of coming so close to winning overwhelmed her.

Novotna was not only a magnificent tennis player who played the game the right way, she seems to have lit up people’s lives off the court too. So she will be sorely missed.