LONDON (AP) — At 18, a decade before Barbora Krejcikova’s victory Wimbledon By Saturday, she was done with junior tennis and couldn’t decide whether to pursue a professional tennis career or move on, go to school and find a different path.
So Krejcikova wrote a letter to one of her idols, 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, and dropped it off at her home in the Czech Republic. Not only did Novotna tell Krejcikova that she had talent and should continue playing the sport, she also became her mentor until her death from cancer in 2017.
“Before she died,” Krejcikova said, “she told me to go win a Grand Slam.”
And two? Krejcikova was a Unseeded, surprise winner at Roland Garros Three years ago, Krejcikova added to her trophy case with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Jasmine Paolini in the final at the All England Club. Shortly after Saturday’s match ended, Krejcikova went to see her newly printed name on the list of Wimbledon champions posted in a hallway on Centre Court – and saw Novotna’s, too.
“The only thing that was going through my mind,” Krejcikova said of the moment, “was that I missed Jana a lot. It was very, very emotional… I think she would be proud.”
Even after holding on to earn her third match point, Krejcikova insisted that no one – not her friends, not her family, not herself – would believe what she had accomplished. That was relatively unlikely, after all, given that she had dealt with a back injury and illness this season and her 2024 record was just 7-9 entering the grass-court major.
Krejcikova was seeded 31st out of 32 at the All England Club. Then last week she had to face three sets in the first round, which further increased the doubts.
But at the end of the fortnight, Paolini, seeded No. 7, was there, telling Krejcikova: “You play such beautiful tennis.”
Krejcikova is the eighth player to leave Wimbledon as champion in the last eight editions of the event. Last year’s champion is also from the Czech Republic: she was unseeded Marketa Vondrousovawho lost in the first round last week.
Paolini, Iga Swiatek’s finalist at Roland Garros Last month, she became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the finals of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season – and the first since Venus Williams in 2002 to lose both.
“If I maintain this level,” said Paolini, a 28-year-old Italian, “I think I will have the chance to do great things.”
This match was as eventful as it gets.
It took 14 points for the final game to be decided, with Krejcikova having to fend off two break chances. She finally converted her third match point when Paolini missed a backhand.
“I just thought, ‘I have to be brave,'” said Krejcikova, who also holds seven Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles, including two at Wimbledon, and three in mixed doubles.
She was excellent from the start, winning 10 of the opening 11 points and five of the opening six games as the crowd, probably hoping to see a more competitive contest, loudly backed Paolini, shouting “Forza!” (“Let’s go!”), as she often does, or “Calma!” (“Be calm!”).
“She was taking the ball earlier,” Paolini said, “and she was moving me.”
At first, Paolini looked very much like someone weighed down by the residual fatigue of the longest women’s semi-final in Wimbledon historyher 2 hour, 51 minute victory over Donna Vekic on Thursday.
But after a trip to the locker room before the second set, Paolini took charge, controlling the baseline rallies more as Krejcikova’s errors piled up.
After leading 3-3 in the final set, Paolini stumbled, double-faulting for the only time all afternoon and getting broken. Krejcikova then held at 0 for 5-3 and quickly found herself serving for the title, no matter how tough the finish was.
At the trophy ceremony, just as she did after her singles triumph in Paris in 2021, Krejcikova spoke about Novotna’s influence on her tennis life – and her life in general.
On Saturday, at Krejcikova’s press conference, she said that Novotna frequently appeared in her dreams. They talked to each other, she explained.
A reporter asked Krejcikova what she would like to say to Novotna now that they are both Wimbledon champions.
“I think I would be a game changer,” Krejcikova said with a smile. “I would like to hear what she would say to me.”
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