A resurgent Krejcikova adds the Venus Rosewater Dish to her considerable collection of hardware

taking a moment to admire her new trophy 🥰@BKrejcikova | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/MpAJGonRVf

— wta (@WTA) July 13, 2024

After her semifinal victory over 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, Barbora Krejcikova commented that--after finally breaking Rybakina--"I got into a zone, and I didn't want to leave that zone." In the first set of today's final, the Czech star was definitely in that zone, making opponent Jasmine Paolini uncomfortable with almost every stroke of her racket. (It couldn't have been easy for Krejcikova, who--according to ESPN's commentators and personalities--had to battle multiple opponents on the other side of the net: Paolina, PaOHlini, Pollina, and occasionally, Paolini. It takes effort to do a worse job than Tennis Channel does, but ESPN always manages to pull it off.)

Krejcikova won that set 6-2, but the second set was a different story. Of course, anyone who watches professional tennis expected it to be a different story. Paolini is too good a player and too good a competitor to fold in a major final. She became more aggressive in the second set, and Krejcikova--though she should have been prepared for this--looked rather flummoxed as Paolini displayed the kind of fearless tennis that got her into the final. The Italian star's court speed and shot invention was, at times, stunning, and she took the second set 6-2.

The third set was a a chapter we might call "Whack You, Whack Me, Now What?" Each player held serve easily for several games, which introduced the match's first really dramatic tension. At this point of a championship match, it's almost all about nerve: Who can hold her nerve better? Who has the nerve to take risks? At 4-all, Krejcikova broke Paolini, but in a moment so crucial, there's still some mystery about who will prevail.

The usually calm Czech went up 30-0 as she served for the championship. But then (just as a commentator said how "calm" she looked), Krejcikova appeared to be about to break into a sweat. Eventually, she was at deuce, then Paolini saved two championship points and attained a game point, which Krejcikova saved. Krejcikova then served an ace, and the calm returned to her face. After Paolini hit a return out, the 2021 French Open champion won Wimbledon on her third championship point, taking the match 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Krejcikova hit 28 winners, including six aces. She had first and second serve win percentages of 73 and 57, and that's a stat that says a lot on its own. 

The new champion hasn't had an easy time of it in the past several months. She was out for two months with a back injury, and she also has had to deal with an illness, as well as the break-up of her extremely long doubles partnership (they began playing doubles together whent they were 12) with Katerina Siniakova. She and Siniakova have won seven majors, including two Wimbledon titles. Krejcikova also holds three Australian Open mixed doubles titles. 

The Czech star, formerly number 2 in the world in singles, now holds a total of twelve major titles in three disciplines, and she has lost only one major final--Krejcikova and Siniakova were defeated by Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka in the 2021 Australian Open. Krejcikova would go on a few months later to win the French Open singles championship. She also won a gold medal (with Siniakova) at the 2021 Olympics.

Of course, one cannot discuss Krejcikova's success without mentioning the late Jana Novotna, who served as Krejcikova's coach and mentor when Krejcikova was young. Most serious tennis fans have heard the story of how Krejcikova's mother drove her to Novotna's house (they lived in the same city), and the young Krejcikova knocked on the door and asked Novotna if she would help her. The 1998 Wimbledon champion replied with the Czech version of "Show me what you got, kid," and history was then in the making. 

When Krejcikova won the French Open, she delivered an emotional tirbute to Novotna, and said that "It was amazing that I had a chance to meet her and that she was such an inspiration for me." And as emotional as that occasion was, the emotion had to be even more intense at Wimbledon, the tournament that Novotna came so close to winning in 1993, then finally won five years later. I can't fully imagine what Krejcikova is feeling now when she thinks of her mentor and inspiration, who left us almost seven years ago. The two stars will forever be linked, and especially in Wimbledon lore.

A warm embrace after an enthralling final 💚#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/yLeYtXBxx3

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2024