Tennis is a brutal sport. Every week, every single player but one loses. However when you’re on a losing streak it must be soul destroying. At the moment. Barbora Krejcikova can’t get a win for love nor money. This week she was knocked out in the first round of Roland-Garros once again, losing in straight sets to Viktoria Golubic of Switzerland. Since winning the title in 2021 Krejcikova has not managed to get a win in singles – or doubles – at Roland-Garros.
After a run to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in January, Krejcikova has not won a match since Abu Dhabi in February – and even that was a withdrawal from Sara Sorribes Tormo. Her last completed match win was the Australian Open fourth round against Mirra Andreeva. Since that time she has missed a lot of tournaments due to illness and injury, and since coming back it has been loss after loss after loss with Barbora just not getting any run of form.
A few years ago it was a very similar situation for Petra Kvitova when she couldn’t seem to get a win on the board. Like with Petra, I do feel once Barbora gets a few wins under her belt, confidence will improve. Right now, she looks like a player who has forgotten how to win. Tough times for Barbora and us fans.
Losing streaks don’t always turn around – ask poor Zhang Shuai who is at 20 and counting, or Garbiñe Muguruza who followed up the WTA year end championships in 2021 with a dismal 2022 then 4 straight losses in 2023 that lead to her taking a break from the sport, and then recently announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30.
As a fan, it is very easy to have someone a successful player like Iga Swiatek as your favourite. Iga wins all of the time! It is much tougher to keep the faith when your fave is in a tough run of form, and their ranking is dropping. Fair weather fans will drop away, but it takes dedication (or delusion!) to keep cheering for your player when they aren’t winning or playing well.
I will admit, my first experience of being a fan were true legends of the game – Steffi Graf then Justine Henin. But from there, I’ve taken the road less travelled!
Elena Dementieva was all heart, great movement, no serve, the adorable mother, Vera, who looked permanently worried. Then it was Petra Kvitova, with her dazzlingly exciting, high risk game. High highs when she looked like the best player ever, but some low lows as Petra definitely had some bad losses. Somehow, triumphs when your player struggles are even sweeter! Ah Miami 2023…
This blog started as the story of how I became a Krejcikova stan in 2021. Three years of fandom has seen much success, but sometimes sticking with her while she had injury and form dips. But she has always bounced back and has won 5 singles titles since that Roland Garros triumph, and I hope she can this time.
Stay strong Barbora!
