The spirit of Jana Novotna lives on at the All England Club, embodied by Barbora Krejcikova, who followed in the footsteps of her late friend and mentor by defeating Jasmine Paolini to win the Wimbledon singles title.
In the emotional aftermath of a final that swung back and forth for almost two hours before Krejcikova finally prevailed 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, the 28-year-old Czech paid an eloquent and composed tribute to her compatriot, who coached and counselled her before her death from cancer in November 2017. Speaking in her on-court interview, Krejcikova recalled how a coaching partnership that began when she knocked on Novotna’s door as an 18-year-old, clutching a letter and asking for guidance, changed her life.
“I think coming to Jana, knocking on her door, giving her the letter – everything that happened during that moment, I think it just changed my life,” said Krejcikova, the 31st seed, after winning her second grand slam singles title. “It definitely changed my tennis life, because during the period when I finished juniors, I didn’t know what I should do, if I should continue and play pro, or if I should go the way of education.
“Jana was the one that told me I had the potential, and that I should definitely turn pro and just try to make it. Before she passed away, she told me to go and win a slam, and I achieved that in Paris in 2021. It was an unbelievable moment for me, and I never really dreamed that I would win the same trophy as Jana did in 1998.”
Shortly afterwards, when the cheers had subsided and the glare of flashing cameras dulled, the emotion of the moment hit home in earnest. It is more than a quarter of a century since Novotna banished the memory of two losing finals by claiming a cathartic victory over Nathalie Tauziat, but memories of her title run, five years after a heart-wrenching defeat to Steffi Graf in the 1993 final left her crying on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent, will forever be embedded in Wimbledon folklore. Having made her way off Centre Court, Krejcikova paused to gaze at the honours board, where her name had been freshly inscribed alongside Novotna’s on the roll of honour. She was overwhelmed with emotion.
“The only thing that was going through my head was that I miss Jana a lot,” said Krejcikova. “It was just very emotional, a very emotional moment to see me on a board right next to her. I think she would be proud. I think she would be really excited that I’m on the same board as she is, because Wimbledon was super special for her.”
In an absorbing final, it required a performance of outstanding quality and resilience from Krejcikova to subdue an impassioned fightback from the seventh-seeded Paolini, who gave everything in pursuit of her dream of becoming the first Italian Wimbledon champion. For a set, she was played off the court. Krejcikova, picking up from where she left off in her semi-final win over Elena Rybakina, the former champion and title favourite, made a near-flawless start, putting a remarkable 90% of first serves into play in the opener and barely missing a return. But Paolini roused herself magnificently in the second set, returning from a bathroom break with renewed energy and aggression to turn the match on its head.
After returning to the fray, Paolini ripped through her opening service game, her groundstrokes acquiring fresh depth and penetration as she moved up the court and sought to dictate. Showing a first hint of fallibility, Krejcikova made a trio of unforced errors in the next game to drop serve for the first time. When the Czech sliced tamely into the net to miss a break point in the next game, frustration surfaced, Krejcikova gesturing in exasperation after being disturbed by a noise from the crowd. Now Paolini was on her way, refocusing her attack on the Czech’s backhand even as Krejcikova became increasingly passive off the forehand. The shift in momentum was most starkly reflected in the players’ serving statistics. While Paolini’s second serve win percentage rose from 38% in the first set to 83% in the second, Krejcikova’s dipped from 50% to 33%, a measure of the Italian’s rising assertiveness.
Having fought back from a set down against Donna Vekic to win the longest women’s semi-final in Wimbledon history, Paolini had more history in her sights as she matched Krejcikova step for step over the first six games of the final set. No woman had rebounded from losing the first set in the final two rounds at the All England Club since Graf came from behind against Novotna and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario to win the 1995 title.
But facing the first break point of the decider at 3-3, Paolini unsuccessfully challenged a call on her first serve, the disruption to her rhythm and focus costing her dearly. Delivering her only double fault of the entire afternoon, Paolini gifted Krejcikova what proved a decisive breakthrough. Three games later, the Czech navigated a nervy service game to convert her third match point with a 108mph delivery that went unreturned.
It has nonetheless been an extraordinary six months for Paolini, who had never won a match on grass before this year and started her season ranked outside the world’s top 30. Having since reached the last 16 of the Australian Open, won the biggest title of her career in Dubai, and made a left-field run to the French Open final, Paolini will now rise to a career high of fifth on Monday. That will perhaps come as scant consolation after losing the biggest match of her life, but the late-blooming 28-year-old, who was demolished by Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros, knows she is getting closer
“I started bad, but I said, ‘OK, take some time and try to relax and to come back in the second set stronger, to try to push the ball more,’” said Paolini. “I was a little bit, you know, controlling too much, and I missed a lot of shots. But she was playing, honestly, very good. The first set she was serving really, really good, a high percentage of first serves, so it was tough. I think I did better than the last final, but still not enough.”
Krejcikova, meanwhile, did more than she ever imagined possible. On an afternoon when she joined a long and illustrious line of Czech Wimbledon champions dating back to Jaroslav Drobny in 1954, all the way through to Marketa Vondrousova last year, two of the most famous, Martina Navratilova and Jan Kodes, looked on approvingly from the Royal Box. Somewhere, perhaps, so too did Novotna, the most important of them all.