2024-07-16 21:12:36
London: Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova defeated Jasmine Paolini in the women’s singles final on Saturday to win the Wimbledon title and win her second Grand Slam trophy. Three years ago, Krejcikova won her first Grand Slam title at the 2021 French Open. Then the 28-year-old player was not seeded. She was also ranked 31st among 32 seeded players at the All England Club due to a back injury this season. Krejcikova registered an unexpected victory with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Paolini in the final at the All England Club. She thanked her mentor (late) 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna who inspired her to come to professional tennis.
What did Krejcikova say?
Krejcikova said, ‘It’s surreal what just happened, definitely the best day of my tennis career and the best day of my life.’ Holding her champion plate, Krejcikova considered herself lucky that she was able to defeat seventh seed Paolini, who was runner-up in the French Open last month. New women’s champions have emerged from the last eight stages of the tournament and since then Krejcikova is the eighth woman to become Wimbledon champion. Last year’s title also went to a player from the Czech Republic, unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, who lost in the first round here last week.
The situation of the final match was something like this
Paolini is the first woman player to reach the finals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season after Serena Williams in 2016. Playing with a calm mind, Krejcikova won 10 of the first 11 points and soon took a 5-1 lead. The spectators were cheering Paolini. But Krejcikova did not waver. The crowd at the Center Court included actors Tom Cruise, Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Jackman. Paolini tried to make a comeback but she could not trouble Krejcikova.
After losing the first set, Paolini went to the locker room and came back looking like a different player. She started the second set brilliantly and took a 3-0 lead against Krejcikova and won it. When the match was tied at 1-1, Krejcikova motivated herself. She had hit only four winners in the second set. But she managed to hit 14 winners in the third set. Krejcikova said, “I was just telling myself to be adventurous.” In the deciding set, at 3-3, Paolini made just one double fault. After this, Krejcikova kept the pressure on with a score of 5-3. In the end, she needed to save two break points and three match points to win the title. Paolini missed a backhand and Krejcikova won the title.