Barbora Krejcikova completes emotional journey back to Grand Slam…
Just over three years and 13 Grand Slam appearances later, Krejcikova again found herself a surprise finalist, and again, she delivered. The 28-year-old from the Czech Republic added a second singles Grand Slam trophy on the grandest stage in tennis Saturday as she defeated Jasmine Paolini, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, on a full and loud Centre Court at the All England Club.
The win prompted an earsplitting grin from Krejcikova as she repeated over and over to the crowd that she could not believe she was a Wimbledon champion, bringing tears to the eyes of Martina Navratilova, the Czech-born legend who won here a record nine times and was front and center to see Krejcikova triumph.
“Somewhere inside me, I hoped I could win,” Krejcikova said. “But I didn’t know until the very last point.”
The flood of tears did not come until Krejcikova was off court, looking at the board that lists champions’ names and seeing hers alongside that of her late coach, Jana Novotna, whose career advice Krejcikova sought when she sent the 1998 Wimbledon champion a letter as an 18-year-old at a crossroads.
Novotna and Krejcikova hit together for the first time a week after she sent that letter and Novotna eventually opened a world of possibility to her young mentee. Krejcikova had long poured her tennis dreams into winning the French Open, and only once Novotna began sharing her memories of the torture and triumph of playing on grass and the emotions of finally capturing the trophy did Krejcikova start thinking of Wimbledon as “the biggest tournament in the world.”
They worked together for about three years, until Novotna lost her battle with cancer in 2017 at 49.
“Jana was the one that told me I had the potential, and [to] definitely turn pro and try to make it. Before she passed away, she told me to go and win a slam,” Krejcikova said. “I achieved that already in Paris in 2021 and it was an unbelievable moment for me, and I never really dreamed that I would win the same trophy as Jana did.”
“I never dreamed that I’d win the same trophy as Jana did in 1998”
Moving words from Barbora Krejcikova on the person that “changed her tennis life”, Jana Novotna ❤️#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/8eSi3iGvkh
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2024
Krejcikova said she thought she made her late mentor proud with the determination she showed in a tense, high-quality final set. Asked if she ever found herself conversing with Novotna in her head as she picked off opponent after opponent at Wimbledon, Krejcikova answered immediately.
“I’m dreaming about her a lot,” she said. “ … We talk in the dreams.”
Novotna might have also been proud about the self-belief it took for Krejcikova to get to the final in the first place. She had won just two singles matches this year between her exit in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the start of Wimbledon.
Neither No. 31 seed Krejcikova nor No. 7 seed Paolini were the expected finalists when the tournament began, despite Paolini’s run to the French Open final last month. The Italian’s breakthrough at Roland Garros was so out-of-the-blue and women’s tennis can still be so unpredictable in the majors that her Grand Slam success might have been over in a flash. Paolini arrived in London having never achieved a tour-level win on grass before last week.
Her stints at the All England Club always seemed to start with a bit of bad luck. For the past two years, she drew two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the first round, and losing those matches, even in taking them three sets, warped her perception of her grass-court abilities.
“I wasn’t believing too much,” Paolini said earlier this week.
But her confidence grew round by round, and she defeated multiple top-50 ranked players on her way to the final: No. 37 Donna Vekic, in the semifinals, No. 19 Emma Navarro, in the quarterfinals, and No. 13 Madison Keys, who retired at the tail end of a tight, three-set match in the fourth round with a leg injury.
Injuries and upsets were the dominant subplots of the tournament. By the time the second week rolled around, Paolini was one of three remaining top-10 seeds in the draw. With the top three seeds all out, Krejcikova beat No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, in the semifinals to book her ticket to final.
For Krejcikova, who has won 10 Grand Slam doubles titles in addition to her two singles trophies, it was a long road back to a championship match. She made 13 Grand Slam appearances between her win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Roland Garros in 2021 and Saturday’s final — only three players have done at least that since the Open era began in 1968: Mary Pierce had 20 major appearances between finals, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario had 19 and Svetlana Kuznetsova had 18.
Krejcikova took the first set in 35 minutes, her doubles skills apparent as she wielded her racket like a carving knife, injecting the match with geometry and moving Paolini around expertly. The Italian had enchanted the crowd here for the past week and had them on her side from moment one, when she walked out on court beaming and giving a little wave while Krejcivoka laser-beam stared her way to her chair.
But Paolini started tight, and Krejcikova’s all-business attitude did her well, at first — she served impeccably and was the aggressor for the entire opening set.
“She can takes really great angles with the shots,” Paolini said. “She’s a very complete player. She’s so good.”
Paolini left the court before the second set and returned with a more attacking mind-set, stepping forward and pressuring Krejcikova into faltering on serve. The Czech veteran had served 31 double faults entering the final, more than any other player during the tournament, and that shakiness emerged as she was broken early and allowed Paolini to find a groove.
The third set was the tightest until Krejcikova used a pair of monster forehands to generate her first break points of the set and Paolini double faulted to give away a 4-3 lead. Krejcikova then held at love to get within a game of the match, and won on her third championship point with a big serve that Paolini sent sailing out.
“I don’t have any words right now. It’s just unreal what just happened, it’s definitely the best day of my tennis career” Krejcikova said after, “and also the best day of my life.”