PRAGUE, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Czech tennis player, the 1998 Wimbledon champion of women's singles, Jana Novotna died after a serious illness on Sunday at the age of 49 years, her family announced on Monday.

Novotna was born in Brno, Czech Republic, and died of cancer. She was the No. 2 in singles and No. 1 in doubles in the WTA rankings in the past. Novotna won 24 WTA tournaments in singles and 76 in doubles, and she also scored a triumph in the Fed Cup. Besides the women's singles title at Wimbledon in 1998, she also won 12 Grand Slam women's doubles titles and four mixed doubles titles.

Novotna was a bronze medallist in women's singles in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and she also won a silver medal in doubles with Helena Sukova in Atlanta. Novotna ended her professional tennis career in 1999. Six years later, she was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame.

She lived in Florida for a long time, then returned to her native town of Brno seven years ago and worked as a tennis coach in the past years.

Many of former and current tennis players offered their condolences to Novotna on social networks.