An inspired Barbora Krejcikova on Saturday etched her name onto Wimbledon’s famed honors board alongside her late mentor Jana Novotna after the seasoned Czech survived a stirring fight back from Jasmine Paolini to seal a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory in the final.
The 2021 French Open champion added the Venus Rosewater Dish to her bulging trophy cabinet that also includes 10 Grand Slam doubles prizes besides an Olympic doubles gold medal from the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Moments after her triumph, Krejcikova was reflecting on a chat that she had as a junior with her idol Novotna, who lifted the Wimbledon title 26 years ago and died in 2017 at the age of 49 following a battle with ovarian cancer.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Knocking on her door, it changed my life,” said Krejcikova, who reached out to Novotna for help by writing her a letter before they started working together in 2014.
“In that period, when I finished the juniors, I didn’t know what to do. Should I continue playing professionally or should I go into education?” Krejcikova said.
“She was the one who told me I had the potential. I should definitely turn professional. Before she passed away she told me I can win a Grand Slam. I achieved that in Paris in 2021,” she said. “It was an unbelievable moment for me and I never really dreamed I would win the same trophy as Jana did in 1998.”
Photo: AFP
Novotna had captured the hearts of fans when she famously sobbed on the shoulders of the Duchess of Kent during the 1993 presentation ceremony after being beaten by Steffi Graf.
On Saturday, it was Krejcikova who broke down in tears when she was shown her idol’s name on the honors board at the All England Club.
“The only thing that was going through my head was that I miss Jana a lot. It was just a very emotional moment to see my name on a board right next to her,” Krejcikova said.
Photo: AFP
In a final between two players whose styles are more suited to the slow claycourts of Roland Garros rather than slick grass at the All England Club, Krejcikova began in a menacing mood with some heavy hitting to dictate play.
She raced through the opening set on a sunlit Centre Court before the crowd roared on French Open runner-up Paolini to coax her into action.
The ever-smiling Italian obliged and leveled the contest in her usual rollicking fashion, but Krejcikova quickly wrestled back the advantage after breaking serve at 3-3 thanks to a double fault and pulled away.
Serving for the title at 5-4, Krejcikova endured a nervy spell as she wasted two match points before saving two break points to seal victory at the third time of asking — a result that even left her stunned.
“I think nobody believes it that I got to the final and nobody believes that I won Wimbledon... I still can’t believe it,” Krejcikova said.
Victory was all the more special for Krejcikova who had a losing record heading into Wimbledon. She had only won seven matches all season when she arrived in London due to a back injury and illness. Her 7-9 win-loss record this year was nothing to shout about.
It was heartbreak all over again for the bubbly Paolini, who lost the French Open final against Iga Swiatek a few weeks ago and was bidding to become the first Italian player to win a Wimbledon singles title.
“Sometimes I’m a little bit scared to dream too much. I’m going back, trying to practice, to stay in the present. This is the goal for me, my team, to try to keep this level as much as possible,” seventh-seeded Paolini said. “If I keep this level, I think I can have the chance to do great things.”
MEN’S DOUBLES
The UK’s Henry Patten and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara defeated Australia’s Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (11/9) in an absorbing men’s doubles final to clinch their first grand slam titles.
The unseeded duo of Patten and Heliovaara started playing together only three months ago, but ousted seeded pairs en route to the final to meet the Australians, who had knocked out top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the semis.
Remarkably, the match had no breaks of serve as each set went into a tiebreak and with the pressure mounting with each game, Patten and Heliovaara saved three championship points in the second set to force a decider.
After nearly three hours on court, Patten, a former Wimbledon statistician, and his Finnish partner edged the Australians to win an epic match, receiving a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd.
“You’re all amazing out there. It couldn’t have been a closer match. I can’t really remember what happened. I’m sure Harri’s the same,” Patten said.
While Patten had never moved past the third round at a grand slam before, Heliovaara had reached two quarter-finals and the emotions got the better of the Finnish player who was sobbing on the court.
“I admit we got a bit lucky today but sometimes we need luck to win a tennis match... The tears say it all, it’s very emotional,” he said.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES
The US’ Taylor Townsend captured her first Grand Slam title as she and Czech partner Katerina Siniakova beat Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe in the women’s doubles final.
With the rest of the All England Club in darkness at the end of a long day, Townsend and Siniakova shone under the illuminated Centre Court roof to win 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/1) in what was only their 10th match playing together.
Townsend was overcome with emotion after a double-fault from their opponents ended a tight contest.
“I just have to say I’m so glad that I could team up with Katerina,” Townsend said on court.
“I remember in my first Grand Slam final [the 2022 US Open] she kicked my butt so it was great to be on the same side of the net this time. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks and it means a lot to get across the finishing line.”
LATE CLASHES
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz last night dueled it out for the Wimbledon men’s championship.
As of press time last night, Alcaraz had won the first set 6-2, and was ahead 3-1 in the second.
The final at the All England Club is a rematch from last year, when Alcaraz got past Djokovic in five sets.
Thirty-seven-year-old Djokovic was trying to win his eighth Wimbledon title to equal Roger Federer for the most by a man at the grass-court major. A victory by Djokovic would also give him 25 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other player in tennis history.
After the men’s singles showpiece, Taiwan’s Hsieh Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jan Zielinski of Poland were to face Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos in the mixed doubles final on Centre Court.
Additional reporting by AP and staff writer
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