You know that last post about What to do When Your Fave is Losing? Yeah, Krejcikova bounced back pretty well… she only went and won Wimbledon!
Things started to turn around on grass, with a couple of wins in Birmingham, that secured a seeding for Wimbledon.
At number 31 it was her lowest seeding for a long time, and a round 1 clash with Veronica Kudermetova seemed like the draw gods hated us! However, after a 3 hours and 14 minutes battle, and a horror show trying to serve it out at 5-4, Barbora did it second time round for a 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 win.
You could tell this gritty win meant a lot by the way she celebrated, but it also kick started Barbora’s form that would take her through in-form top 20 players, Danielle Collins, Jelena Ostapenko and tournament favourite, Elena Rybakina to reach her first Wimbledon final against the likeable Italian, Jasmine Paolini.
Paolini had made the final at Roland Garros just a month or so before where she was smacked down by Iga Swiatek on her beloved clay court. The Italian’s big smile and exuberant personality made her a favourite at SW19, but Krejcikova was on one of her fabulous runs that we’ve seen periodically. (RG2021, Tallinn/Ostrava in late 2022, Dubai in 2023) where she shows she can beat literally anyone. Her serve was precise, the forehand punishing. She started brilliantly, sweeping through the first set very quickly, but lost focus and Paolini started playing better. Krejcikova dropped the second set as Paolini grabbed the momentum. It was all set up for a tense final set.
Krejcikova regained her concentration and her serve. She only lost one point on serve in her first four service games – and that was a double fault. In the 3-3 game she got the crucial break with a couple of great forehands and was handed the game when Paolini double faulted on break point. Despite a few wobbles when serving for the title at 5-4, ultimately Krejcikova sent down one more big wide serve that Paolini could not get into court.
A look of disbelief was on Krejcikova ‘s face for much of the rest of the day, and for us fans who had been in despair for the last few months, it was equally amazing.
With the Wimbledon singles title to add to the 2021 French Open, she joins the list of multi- slam winners and alongside Petra Kvitova and Marketa Vondrousova as recent Czech champions at the All England Club. She also matched her former coach Jana Novotna on the winner’s board, and much of the media focus was on that connection. Novotna’s story is one of Wimbledon’s greatest, so no surprise I guess. But it did kind of overshadow the astonishing achievement of turning around her slump with a high quality brand of controlled and varied tennis that bamboozled her opponents. It was glorious! And all the sweeter because it was unexpected, even by us fans!
After the slightly muted 2021 Roland Garros, still in COVID times, this title was the full Wimbledon pomp and ceremony, with huge crowds and celebrity fans in the Royal Box (although no actual Royals! Krejcikova did get to meet the Princess of Wales the following day though, when she showed up for the men’s final.)
While other players always seemed to be the bigger story, Barbora Krejcikova let her racquet do the talking with terrific tennis for two weeks. She showed variety, smart tactics and incredible mental strength to win this coveted title against the odds. Now a multi-slam winner, Krejcikova has proved she is a class player, and that with confidence and self-belief, has the game to beat anyone.
Babs, you legend!
In more good news, Katerina Siniakova claimed the doubles title 8later the same day. Playing with the American Taylor Townsend, Siniakova claimed her 9th grand slam title – the second without Krejcikova, after winning the title in Paris a month ago alongside another American, Coco Gauff. Townsend is a really good doubles player and her emotional joy was heart warming. An absolutely brilliant final, and Katka and Taylor were excellent.
Siniakova and Krejcikova will team up at the Prague Open in a few weeks in preparation for the defence of their Olympic doubles gold medal in Paris next month,
A good day for Czech tennis