Barbora Krejcikova had the Centre Court crowd in stitches as she lifted her second Grand Slam singles trophy at Wimbledon.
The No. 31 seed repeatedly told the fans that she couldn’t believe she had the trophy in her hands and declared it the “best day of my life” in a heartwarming speech.
Krejcikova needed almost two hours to defeat French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini in three sets.
Although Krejcikova has experience giving victory speeches – winning the 2021 French Open and seven Slam titles in doubles – she was lost for words as she clutched the Venus Rosewater Dish in her hands. When Annabel Croft started the on-court interview, the speechless Czech star simply replied: “I mean, hello. Hello everybody.
“It’s unreal what just happened. It’s definitely the best day of my tennis career and also the best day of my life.” The humble 28-year-old earned lots of laughs as she voiced her disbelief before turning her attention to her opponent.
“I would like to congratulate Jasmine and her team,” the newly-crowned champion said. “I mean, at the end I was the lucky one but on the other hand, she played the Roland Garros [final] a few weeks ago. It’s amazing what she was able to achieve in such a sport period so big congratulations.”
Krejcikova saved two break points in a tense final game to seal a 6-2 2-6 6-4 victory. And she admitted they would likely still be battling it out if Paolini levelled the score. “I was just telling myself to be brave and if it doesn’t go, it’s still 5-5,” she smiled. “We’d be continuing, we’d be playing even now.”
Krejcikova joins the list of Czech ladies’ singles champions at Wimbledon, including Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna and last year’s winner Marketa Vondrousova. But she smaild that no one in her home town would believe she lifted the trophy.
“Well, I think nobody really believed it that I got to the final and no one is going to believe that I won Wimbledon,” she added, as spectators started cracking up at her heartwarming honesty.
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