By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON (Reuters) – As a precocious 12-year-old tennis novice, Barbora Krejcikova had scribbled into her notebook that her ambition was to win the French Open.
Three years after achieving that goal, however, she was declaring that 13 July 2024 was the best day of her life after she got her hands on the Wimbledon trophy – something she did not even think was possible in her wildest childhood dreams.
A 6-2 2-6 6-4 victory over Jasmine Paolini on the worn out Centre Court lawn ensured the 28-year-old became the latest Czech to hold aloft the Venus Rosewater Dish, following the likes of Petra Kvitova, Marketa Vondrousova and her late mentor Jana Novotna.
“Winning any slam is great. Winning here at the Wimbledon is huge for me,” said Krejcikova, who teared up when she was shown Novotna’s name on the honours board earlier.
“I wouldn’t really say it was like my dream when I was little. I have like a notebook that I wrote when I was 12. I don’t know, maybe like three, four months ago I was looking through that notebook.
“I had there that in future… I’d like to win the French Open… Maybe things shifted a bit when I met Jana and when she was telling me stories about Wimbledon, grass, how difficult it was for her to win the title and how emotional she was when she actually made it.
“I think since then I started to see the Wimbledon like the biggest tournament in the world.”
Novotna, who died in 2017 after a battle with cancer, had famously won the hearts of fans when she sobbed on the Duchess of Kent’s shoulder during the presentation ceremony after being beaten by Steffi Graf in the 1993 final, where she threw away a 5-1 lead in the deciding set.
She was also a symbol of perseverance at Wimbledon as she had also lost the 1997 final before finally landing the title a year later.
“I think she would tell me that she is very proud about me and that she’s super happy,” added Krejcikova, who first began working with Novotna in 2014.
Krejcikova went on to say that it was the best day of her life in her on-court speech and added in a press conference that she was also playing the best tennis of her career.
“Because today was very difficult, and I really had to dig deep in every aspect. Also in tennis, but also mentally,” added Krejcikova.
“I’m extremely proud that I was able to do that, to hold everything together, and to just win the final.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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