Barbora Krejcikova completes emotional journey to Wimbledon women’s title

More than three years and 13 Grand Slam appearances later, Krejcikova again found herself a surprise finalist – and again she delivered. The 28-year-old Czech Republic player added his second Grand Slam singles She won the trophy on the grandest stage of tennis by defeating Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 on a packed center court of the All England Club on Saturday.

After this victory, Krejcikova had a smile on her face and she repeatedly repeated to the crowd that she could not believe that she was the Wimbledon champion. It brought tears to the eyes of Czech-born veteran Martina Navratilova, who has won here a record nine times and was front and center to watch Krejcikova win.

“Somewhere inside me, I hoped I could win,” Krejcikova said. “But I didn’t know until the last point.”

The flood of tears did not come until Krejcikova was off the court, looking at the board on which the names of champions were listed and seeing herself with her late coach Jana Novotná, about whose career Krejcikova wrote. Then he asked for advice when he sent a letter to the 1998 Wimbledon champion. As an 18 year old girl at a crossroads.

Novotna and Krejcikova met together for the first time a week after sending that letter, and Novotna ultimately opened up a world of possibilities to her young protégé. Krejcikova had long pinned her tennis dreams on winning the French Open, and only once Novotna began sharing her memories of the torture and triumph of playing on grass and the feeling of finally capturing the trophy did Krejcikova return to Wimbledon.” Started thinking of it as “the biggest tournament ever”. World.”

They worked together for about three years, until Novotná died of cancer in 2017 at the age of 49.

“It was Jana who told me that I had potential and that I would definitely become a professional and try to make it. Before she died, she told me to go and win a Slam,” Krejcikova said. “I had already achieved it in Paris in 2021, and it was an incredible moment for me. I never dreamed that I would win the same trophy as Jana did.”

Krejcikova said she felt she made her mentor proud with the determination she showed in a tense, high-quality final set. Asked if she ever found herself having a conversation with Novotná in her mind as she beat opponent after opponent at Wimbledon, Krejcikova was quick to respond.

“I’m dreaming about it a lot,” she said. “…we talk in dreams.”

Novotná can also be proud of the self-belief Krejcikova needed to reach the final in the first place. She had won only three singles matches between her quarterfinal exit at the Australian Open and her Wimbledon debut.

Despite Paolini reaching the French Open final last month, neither No. 31 seed Krejcikova nor No. 7 seed Paolini were among the expected finalists when the tournament began. The Italian’s success at Roland Garros was so unexpected – and women’s tennis can still be so unpredictable at major tournaments – that her Grand Slam success could have ended in an instant. Paolini arrived in London having never scored a tour-level win on grass before last week.

His tenure at the All England Club always seemed to start with a bit of bad luck. For the past two years, she defeated two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the first round, and losing those matches, even in three sets, damaged her perception of her grass-court abilities.

“I wasn’t believing too much,” Paolini said earlier in the week.

But her confidence grew with each round, and she defeated several top-50 players en route to the final: No. 37 Donna Vekic in the semifinals, No. 17 Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals, and No. 13 Madison Keys, who retired. He suffered a leg injury in the fourth round at the end of a tough three-set match.

Injuries and upsets were the major subplots of the tournament. By the time the second week began, Paolini was one of only three top-10 seeds remaining in the women’s draw. After the top three seeds were eliminated, Krejcikova defeated No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, in the semi-finals to book her ticket to the final.

For Krejcikova, who has won 10 Grand Slam doubles titles in addition to her two singles trophies, it was a long journey to reach the championship match. She made 13 Grand Slam appearances in 2021 between her win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Roland Garros and Saturday’s final. Only three players have done so since the Open era began in 1968: Mary Pierce has made 20 major appearances between finals, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario has made 19, and Svetlana Kuznetsova has made 18 major appearances.

Krejcikova won the first set in 35 minutes, her doubles skill evident as she wielded her racket like a carving knife, filling the match with geometry and expertly circling Paolini. The Italian charmed the crowd last week and got them on his side again. But Paolini started well, and Krejcikova’s all-business attitude served her well at first – she served flawlessly and was aggressive for the entire opening set.

“She takes really great angles with shots,” Paolini said. “He is a very complete player. she’s very nice.”

Paolini left the court before the second set and returned with a more aggressive mindset, moving forward and pressuring Krejcikova to falter on serve. The Czech veteran had committed 31 double faults entering the final, more than any other player during the tournament, and that instability came to the fore as his serve was broken early and allowed Paolini to take the lead.

The third set was the toughest until Krejcikova used a pair of monster forehands to generate her first break point of the set and Paolini double-faulted to lead 4–3. Krejcikova held at love to get within one game of the match and won her third championship point with a big serve that Paolini sent out.

“I have no words right now. “What just happened is absolutely unreal – this is definitely the best day of my tennis career,” said Krejcikova, “and also the best day of my life.”