LONDON — Barbora Krejcikova continued to insist that no one — not her friends, not her family, not even herself — would believe she won Wimbledon for her second Grand Slam title.
Her first major championship, as an unseeded player at the French Open three years ago, certainly came as a surprise. This one, which came via a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Jasmine Paolini in the final at the All England Club on Saturday, was perhaps equally unpredictable, of course, but perhaps now is the time to recognize that these types Krejcikova’s results are not only possible but make perfect sense.
“It’s simply unreal what happened. Definitely the best day of my tennis career – and also the best day of my life,” said Krejcikova, a 28-year-old from the Czech Republic, who thanked her late mentor, 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, for push her to the professional. tennis.
Despite holding the gold medal, Krejcikova described herself as “the lucky one” for overtaking seventh-seeded Paolini, who was also runner-up at the French Open last month.
Krejcikova was just 31st of 32 seeds at the All England Club after illness and a back injury this season limited her to a 7-9 record entering this tournament. Then came a three-set first-round match last week, adding to the doubts.
But at the end of the fortnight, Paolini was there during the trophy ceremony, telling Krejcikova: “You play such beautiful tennis.”
Krejcikova is the eighth woman to leave Wimbledon as champion in the last eight editions of the event. Last year’s champion is also from the Czech Republic: non-champion Marketa Vondrousova, who lost in the first round last week.
Paolini is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the finals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season – and the first since Venus Williams in 2002 to lose both.
Saturday’s finalists took turns at the helm.
Playing coolly and efficiently – seemingly effortlessly – Krejcikova won 10 of the first 11 points and quickly took a double 5-1 lead.
As much as the crowd, probably out of a desire to see a more competitive contest, loudly cheered for Paolini, shouting “Forza!” (“Come on!”) as she usually does, or “Calm down!” (“Take it easy!”), Krejcikova never wavered.
She has liquid skills, to be sure – it’s part of the reason she won seven Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, including two at Wimbledon – but Krejcikova was mostly content to stay on the baseline, simply delivering one smooth blow after another. for your nominee. local and get the best of longer exchanges.
There really was no need for anything other than Plan A at the start, in front of a Center Court crowd that included actors Tom Cruise, Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Jackman.
Paolini tried to shake things up a bit, with occasional serves and volleys or shots, but was unable to solve Krejcikova. Not yet, anyway.
After the unbalanced first set, Paolini went to the locker room. She emerged as a different player, one who no longer looked like someone weighed down by residual fatigue from the longest women’s semifinal in Wimbledon history, her 2-hour, 51-minute victory over Donna Vekic on Thursday.
Paolini had come back after losing the first set of that one, so she knew she had it all in her. And she started the second set against Krejcikova in style, using deep shots to take a 3-0 lead.
With the match tied at one set apiece, it was Krejcikova who left the court to try to recalibrate.
Her shots that suddenly went wrong midway through the match – after just four winners in the second set, she racked up 14 in the third – came back sharp and clean.
“I was just telling myself to be brave,” Krejcikova said.
With 3 points in the decisive set, it was Paolini who faltered, committing a double fault for the only time throughout the afternoon and breaking down.
Krejcikova then held at love for 5-3, but when she served for the championship things got a little more difficult.
She needed to save a few break points and three match points to cross the finish line, winning when Paolini missed a backhand.
“No one believes I reached the final. And I don’t think anyone will believe that I won Wimbledon,” Krejcikova said a few minutes later. “I still can’t believe it. It’s unbelievable.”
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
