LONDON (AP) — At age 18, a decade before Barbora Krejcikova won Wimbledon on 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 their native Czech Republic. Not only did Novotna tell Krejcikova she had talent and should stick with the sport, but she also became a mentor until dying of cancer in 2017.
“Before she passed away,” Krejcikova said, “she told me to go and win a Slam.”
How about two? Krejcikova was an unseeded, surprising winner at the French Open three years ago and 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 and looked at her just-printed name on the list of Wimbledon champions posted in a Centre Court hallway — and saw Novotna’s there, too.
“The only thing that was going through my head,” Krejcikova said of that moment, “was that I miss Jana a lot. It was just very, very emotional. … I think she would be proud.”
Even after holding on to win on her third match point, Krejcikova insisted that nobody — not her friends, not her family, not even herself — would believe what she’s accomplished. It was relatively unlikely, after all, given that she dealt with a back injury and illness this season and her record in 2024 was just 7-9 when she arrived at the grass-court major.
Krejcikova was the 31st of 32 seeded women at the All England Club. Then came a three-setter in the first round last week, adding to the doubts.
But by the end of the fortnight, there stood the seventh-seeded Paolini, telling Krejcikova: “You play such beautiful tennis.”
Krejcikova is the eighth woman to leave Wimbledon as the champion in the past eight editions of the event. Last year’s champion also is from the Czech Republic: unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, who lost in the first round last week.
Paolini, the runner-up to Iga Swiatek at the French Open last month, is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to get to the finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season — and the first since Venus Williams in 2002 to lose both.
“If I keep this level,” said Paolini, a 28-year-old from Italy, “I think I can have the chance to do great things.”
This match was as back-and-forth as could be.
Fittingly, the last game took 14 points to decide, with Krejcikova needing to fend off a pair of break chances. She eventually converted her third match point when Paolini missed a backhand.
