In the five months between the end of the Australian Open and the start of Wimbledon, Barbora Krejcikova won just two singles matches. She had fallen into a brutal cycle of illnesses, injuries and pitiful form, and at times it seemed like there was no way out. She arrived at Wimbledon with expectations low, still just trying to find her feet again.
But things can change so quickly in tennis; just a few key wins can build enough confidence for a player’s game to suddenly flow as if nothing had ever been wrong. That process has played out in full for Krejcikova over the past fortnight and by the time she arrived in her first Wimbledon final, she was ready.
After initially looking like a one-sided rout, Saturday’s final between two Wimbledon underdogs developed into a tense, brilliant tussle with so much heart before Krejcikova, the 31st seed, steadied herself and held off a spirited comeback from the seventh seed Jasmine Paolini to close out a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win and clinch the Wimbledon singles title for the first time in her career.
Three years after her shock run to the Roland Garros title in 2021, Krejcikova has now won her second grand slam singles title. Having already built one of the great doubles résumés of this generation, few active tennis players, male or female, can match her overall grand slam trophy cabinet: Krejcikova is now a 12-time grand slam champion and a three-time Wimbledon champion.
Krejcikova’s path to the final had been underscored by the way she neutralised three of the most destructive ball strikers in succession – Danielle Collins, Jelena Ostapenko and Elena Rybakina. This time, as the taller, stronger player with a better serve and heavier shots, Krejcikova knew she had to dictate the match.
The only other meeting between the two had come in the first round of the 2018 Australian Open qualifying tournament, which was won comfortably by Krejcikova before she also lost before making the main draw. It is a reflection of their late-blooming careers that this occasion marked the first time that a grand slam qualifying match had been replicated in a major final.
Facing such a different playing style could have rattled her, but Krejcikova completely overwhelmed Paolini. She flitted out of the blocks determined to take the first strike immediately as she dismantled the Italian’s serve in the opening game and dominated with her forehand.
With the set already slipping away from her, Paolini tried everything to halt Krejcikova’s momentum. She mixed in drop shots, sharp forehand angles and tried hard to take the initiative earlier in the point. Each time she was under pressure, Krejcikova demonstrated her awesome hand skills, resetting countless exchanges with skidding defensive slices before working her way back on top.
After taking a bathroom break between sets, Paolini began the second set determined to put Krejcikova under pressure as the Centre Court crowd forcefully cheered her on throughout. She injected more pace into both of her groundstrokes, she found greater depth and she began to completely attack her forehand. The momentum shifted immediately and as Paolini raced to a 3-0 lead, pounding forehands and refusing to let up, nervous errors began to flow from Krejcikova’s racket.
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At the beginning of the final set, Paolini refused to relinquish her momentum. She opened the third set by utterly eviscerating a forehand before rolling through her opening service game and she maintained pressure on her opponent by continually targeting her shaky backhand. While Krejcikova’s groundstrokes were still tentative, she served extremely well early on and built up her confidence by breezing through her service games.
With both players simultaneously performing at a high level, Krejcikova had regained enough confidence to make her move at 3-3 on Paolini’s vulnerable serve. She finally took back the initiative in the neutral rallies, dominating with her forehand again as she snatched the break. The brilliant battle would end in one final titanic game as Krejcikova wrestled with her nerves and Paolini fought until the death. After nearly two hours, Krejcikova closed the door on a spectacular triumph.
This is, of course, a poignant full-circle moment for Krejcikova. She was still hundreds of ranking spots from even competing at Wimbledon in 2014 when she knocked on the door of Jana Novotna, the 1998 Wimbledon singles champion, in search of guidance from the local legend.
That meeting would spawn a friendship of a lifetime, as Novotna quickly decided to travel and work with her, coaching her until shortly before she died in November 2017. 26 years after Novotna finally won Wimbledon in her third final, Krejcikova became the newest Czech player to have her name inscribed on the Venus Rosewater Dish.