Barbora Krejcikova channels spirit of Novotna to fulfil Wimbledon dreams | Wimbledon 2024

At the age of 12, Barbora Krejcikova wrote in a pocket book three issues she needed to realize sooner or later, if she was lucky sufficient to make it as knowledgeable tennis participant. At that stage, she had no thought if she would be capable of make a dwelling from the game however she was dreaming massive.

“I believe I wrote there that I needed to be a high 10 tennis participant,” the Czech stated on Saturday night, a couple of hours after turning into Wimbledon champion for the primary time with an exciting win in opposition to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.

“I believe I wrote there that I wish to win Roland Garros and I believe I wrote there that I wish to symbolize Czech Republic in the course of the Olympics and get the medal.”

Tick, tick, tick. Krejcikova had already achieved all three issues earlier than coming to Wimbledon. She has been ranked as excessive as No 2, received the French Open in 2021 and received the doubles gold medal on the Tokyo Olympics with Katerina Siniakova.

Successful Wimbledon was not one thing she had thought-about at that stage and it was solely after she met Jana Novotna, her compatriot and winner right here in 1998, that triumphing on the grass entered her thoughts.

“Perhaps issues shifted slightly bit once I really met Jana and when she was telling me all of the tales about Wimbledon, concerning the grass, how troublesome it was for her to win the title and the way emotional she was when she really made it,” the Czech stated. “I believe since then I began to see Wimbledon as the largest event on the planet.”

It was when she was 14 that Krejcikova put a letter via the door of Novotna, who lived in the identical city as her, Brno, and her life modified. Krejcikova can’t bear in mind the precise phrases she used however she requested Novotna if she would be capable of assist her fulfil her goals, to place her heading in the right direction. Novotna accepted and coached Krejcikova from 2014 till her dying from most cancers in 2017.

Krejcikova has now received 12 grand slam titles in all: two in singles, seven in ladies’s doubles and three in combined. Watching her maintain her poise within the last, it’s unusual to assume that till 2020, she was primarily thought-about a doubles participant. “I used to be enjoying very nicely in doubles however in singles I used to be simply exterior of the highest 100,” stated the 28-year-old, who will return to the highest 10 on Monday.

“I attempted to mix the singles and doubles profession but it surely was troublesome. Issues form of clicked after Covid, throughout 2020 and I lastly received into the highest 100. From that I used to be capable of get some good outcomes additionally in singles.”

If her French Open title in 2021 was sudden, as a consequence of her comparatively low rating, so was this one, due to a primary half of the 12 months interrupted by damage and sickness. After a promising begin, when she reached the quarter-finals on the Australian Open, she picked up a bacterial virus in Miami, received Covid in Madrid and misplaced all 4 of her matches on clay, together with a first-round exit at Roland Garros.

“It wasn’t actually journey coming to Wimbledon,” she stated. “I didn’t need to spend time in hospital however I had 10 days of antibiotics, which isn’t actually good for the physique and for the system. After which with Covid I used to be isolating myself and I had [a temperature of] 39 levels for 5 days, so it was fairly extreme. It was a really robust, robust, robust interval.”

Her success at Wimbledon is all of the extra spectacular for that. Protecting herself calm between matches by doing Lego – she wish to see a Wimbledon Centre Court docket choice come in the marketplace– Krejcikova got here via robust early matches earlier than hitting her stride. As pure a ball-striker as anybody, she all the time had the sport to succeed on any floor and is certainly one of solely two energetic ladies, along with Simona Halep, to have received each Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Laid-back and never one for large celebrations, she doesn’t know what to anticipate when she returns to the Czech Republic however is happy to play in Prague later this month. From there, she’s going to head to Paris for the Olympics the place she can be aiming for a primary singles gold and be reunited with Siniakova in doubles, the pair having break up on the finish of 2023.

“I like to symbolize my nation,” she stated. “I skilled the Tokyo Olympics. It was one thing unbelievable. I actually loved the ambiance at Czech Home and likewise assembly different athletes from completely different nations. It was very, very good, completely different than the common tennis tournaments. I’m actually trying ahead to that.”