Barbora Krejcikova completes emotional journey to Wimbledon women’s title

Just over three years and 13 Grand Slam appearances later, Krejcikova again found herself a surprise finalist — and again she delivered. The 28-year-old from the Czech Republic added a second Grand Slam singles trophy on the grandest stage in tennis Saturday by defeating Jasmine Paolini, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, on a full and loud Centre Court at the All England Club.

The win prompted an ear-to-ear grin from Krejcikova as she repeated over and over to the crowd that she could not believe she was a Wimbledon champion. That brought tears to the eyes of Martina Navratilova, the Czech-born legend who won here a record nine times and was front and center to see Krejcikova triumph.

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

The flood of tears did not come until Krejcikova was off the court, looking at the board that lists champions’ names and seeing hers alongside that of her late coach, Jana Novotna, whose career advice Krejcikova sought when she sent the 1998 Wimbledon champion a letter as an 18-year-old at a crossroads.

Novotna and Krejcikova hit together for the first time a week after she sent that letter, and Novotna eventually opened a world of possibility for her young mentee. Krejcikova had long poured her tennis dreams into winning the French Open, and only once Novotna began sharing her memories of the torture and triumph of playing on grass and the emotion of finally capturing the trophy did Krejcikova start thinking of Wimbledon as “the biggest tournament in the world.”

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

“Jana was the one that told me I had the potential and [to] definitely turn pro and try to make it. Before she passed away, she told me to go and win a Slam,” Krejcikova said. “I achieved that already in Paris in 2021, and it was an unbelievable moment for me. I never really dreamed that I would win the same trophy as Jana did.”

Krejcikova said she thought she made her mentor proud with the determination she showed in a tense, high-quality final set. Asked if she ever found herself conversing with Novotna in her head as she picked off opponent after opponent at Wimbledon, Krejcikova answered immediately.

“I’m dreaming about her a lot,” she said. “… We talk in the dreams.”

Novotna also might have been proud about the self-belief it took for Krejcikova to get to the final in the first place. She had won just three singles matches between her exit in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the start of Wimbledon.

Neither No. 31 seed Krejcikova nor No. 7 seed Paolini was among the expected finalists when the tournament began, despite Paolini’s run to the French Open final last month. The Italian’s breakthrough at Roland Garros was so out of the blue — and women’s tennis can still be so unpredictable at majors — that her Grand Slam success might have been over in a flash. Paolini arrived in London having never achieved a tour-level win on grass before last week.

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

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

But her confidence grew round by round, and she defeated multiple top-50 players on her way to the final: No. 37 Donna Vekic in the semifinals, No. 17 Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals and No. 13 Madison Keys, who retired with a leg injury at the tail end of a tight, three-set match in the fourth round.

Injuries and upsets were the dominant subplots of the tournament. By the time the second week rolled around, Paolini was one of just three top-10 seeds left in the women’s draw. With the top three seeds out, Krejcikova beat No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, in the semifinals to book her ticket to final.

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

Krejcikova took the first set in 35 minutes, her doubles skills apparent as she wielded her racket like a carving knife, injecting the match with geometry and moving Paolini around expertly. The Italian had enchanted the crowd for the past week and had it on her side again. But Paolini started tight, and Krejcikova’s all-business attitude did her well at first — she served impeccably and was the aggressor for the entire opening set.

“She takes really great angles with the shots,” Paolini said. “She’s a very complete player. She’s so good.”

Paolini left the court before the second set and returned with a more attacking mind-set, stepping forward and pressuring Krejcikova into faltering on serve. The Czech veteran had served 31 double faults entering the final, more than any other player during the tournament, and that shakiness emerged as she was broken early and allowed Paolini to find a groove.

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

“I don’t have any words right now. It’s just unreal what just happened — it’s definitely the best day of my tennis career,” Krejcikova said, “and also the best day of my life.”