Barbora Krejcikova wins Wimbledon by beating Jasmine Paolini for her second Grand Slam trophy

“Before she passed away,” Krejcikova said, “she told me I had to go win a Grand Slam.”

How about two? Krejcikova was an unseeded, surprise winner at the French Open three years ago, adding a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Jasmine Paolini to her trophy case in the final at the All England Club. Shortly after Saturday’s match ended, Krejcikova went to check her newly printed name on the list of Wimbledon champions posted in a Centre Court hallway — and saw that Novotna was there, too.

“The only thing that was going through my mind,” Krejcikova said of that moment, “was that I miss Jana very much. It was just very, very emotional. … I think she would be proud.”

Even after holding her third match point, Krejcikova insisted that no one — not her friends, not her family, not even her — would believe what she had accomplished. It was, after all, a relatively unlikely feat, given that she has battled a back injury and illness this season and her 2024 record 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 when a three-setter in the first round last week only added to the doubts.

But at the end of the fortnight, there stood the seventh-seeded Paolini, who said to Krejcikova: “You play such beautiful tennis.”

Krejcikova is the eighth woman to leave Wimbledon as champion in the past eight editions of the event. Last year’s champion is also from the Czech Republic: unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, who lost in the first round last week.

Paolini, who finished runner-up to Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros last month, is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals in the same season. And the first since Venus Williams in 2002 to lose both finals.

“If I keep this level,” said Paolini, a 28-year-old from Italy, “I think I have the chance to do great things.”

This match was a real wave of tension.

Fittingly, the final game took 14 points to decide, with Krejcikova fending off a couple of break chances, eventually converting her third match point when Paolini missed a backhand.

“I told myself I had to be brave,” said Krejcikova, who also has seven Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles, including two at Wimbledon, and three in mixed doubles.

She was great at the start, taking 10 of the first 11 points and five of the first six games, while the crowd, probably hoping for a more competitive match, cheered loudly for Paolini, chanting “Forza!” (“Let’s go!”), as she often does, or “Calma!” (“Keep calm!”).

“She took the ball earlier,” Paolini said, “and she moved me.”

Paolini looked most like someone still suffering from fatigue in the early stages after her 2-hour, 51-minute victory over Donna Vekic on Thursday, the longest women’s semifinal in Wimbledon history.

But after a visit to the locker room before the second set, Paolini took charge and controlled the longer baseline exchanges, while Krejcikova made more and more errors.

From 3-3 in the final set, Paolini faltered, double-faulted for the only moment of the afternoon and was broken. Krejcikova then held at 5-3 and quickly served out the championship, however difficult it became at the end.

During the awards ceremony, Krejcikova, just as she did after her singles victory in Paris in 2021, spoke about Novotna’s influence on her tennis life – and her life in general.

Later on Saturday, during Krejcikova’s press conference, she said that Novotna often appears in her dreams. They will converse with each other, she explained.

A reporter asked Krejcikova what she would like to say to Novotna now that they are both Wimbledon champions.

“Well, I think I would turn it around,” Krejcikova said with a smile. “I would like to hear what she would tell me.”

AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis