AWhen she was 12 years old, Barbora Krejcikova wrote down in a notebook three things she would like to achieve in the future if she was lucky enough to become a professional tennis player. At that stage, she didn’t know if she would be able to make a living from the sport, but she had a big dream.
“I think I wrote there that I wanted to be a top-10 tennis player,” the Czech said on Saturday night, hours after scoring a thrilling victory over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. Became Wimbledon champion for the first time.
“I think I wrote there that I wanted to win the French Open, I think I wrote there that I wanted to represent the Czech Republic at the Olympics and win a medal.”
Tick, tick, tick. Krejcikova had accomplished all three before arriving at Wimbledon. She was ranked as high as No. 2, won the 2021 French Open, and won a doubles gold medal with Katrina Siniakova at the Tokyo Olympics.
At that stage she wasn’t even thinking about winning Wimbledon, and victory on grass wasn’t until she met her late fellow Czech, 1998 champion Jana Novotna entered her mind.
“Maybe when I actually met Jana, when she told me all the stories about Wimbledon, about the grass, how difficult it was for her to win and how excited she was when she actually won, something changed. ,” said the Czech. “I think that’s when I started looking at Wimbledon as the biggest tournament in the world.”
When she was 14, Krejcikova sent a letter to Novotna, who lived in the same town as her, Brno, and her life changed. Krejcikova doesn’t remember exactly what words she used, but she asked Novotna if she could help her realize her dream and get her on the right track. Novotna accepted and mentored Krejcikova from 2014 until her death in 2017 after a long battle with cancer.
Krejcikova has won a total of 12 Grand Slam singles championships, including 2 singles championships, 7 women’s doubles championships and 3 mixed championships. Watching her balance herself in the finals, it was strange that before 2020 she was primarily considered a doubles player. “I was playing well in doubles, but in singles I was just outside the top 100,” said the 28-year-old, who will return to the top 10 on Monday.
“I tried to combine my singles and doubles careers, but it was difficult. “In 2020, after the COVID-19 epidemic, everything went smoothly and I finally entered the top 100. From this, I also achieved some success in singles competition. good achievement.”
If her 2021 French Open title was a surprise due to her relatively low ranking, so too was a title interrupted by injuries in the first half of the year. After getting off to a strong start, as she reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, she contracted the bacterial virus in Miami and COVID-19 in Madrid and lost all four of her clay-court matches, including Lost in the first round of the French Open.
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“Coming to Wimbledon was not a great journey,” she said. “I didn’t have to be hospitalized, but I was on antibiotics for 10 days, which was not good for the body and system. Then as COVID-19 hit, I started self-isolating and I [a temperature of] It has been 39 degrees for five consecutive days, which is quite serious. It was a very difficult, difficult, difficult time.
Her success at Wimbledon was even more impressive. Building with Lego to keep herself calm between matches – she hopes to see options on Wimbledon Center Court come on the market – Krejcikova endured tough matches before starting to hit her stride. A pure hitter, she always succeeds on any surface and is one of only two active women, along with Simona Halep, to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles.
She’s laid-back and doesn’t like big celebrations, and she doesn’t know what to expect when she returns to the Czech Republic, but is excited to play in Prague later this month. From there, she will head to Paris for the Olympics, where she will seek her first singles gold medal and reunite with Siniakova in doubles, after the pair split at the end of 2023.
“I love representing my country,” she said. “I experienced the Tokyo Olympics. It was unbelievable. I really liked the atmosphere at Czech House and meeting other athletes from different countries. It was very, very good and different from regular tennis tournaments. I’m really looking forward to this.
