Barbora Krejcikova’s conviction rewarded with French Open crown

At some point during the pandemic-inducted tennis shutdown last year, Barbora Krejcikova, a multiple-time Grand Slam doubles winner, toyed with the thought of giving up playing singles. She languished outside the top 100 in rankings, often losing in the early rounds in even lower-rung ITF tournaments. “I was just like ‘Okay, maybe I will never make it. Maybe I’m going to be just a doubles player, okay?’” Krejcikova said last month.

The 25-year-old Czech won her first singles Grand Slam title on Saturday, beating Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the final at Roland Garros in what was just her fifth main draw singles appearance in a Major. Her previous best singles performance on this stage was a fourth-round appearance in Paris last year. And she hasn’t even made the main draw of Wimbledon or US Open in singles.

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“I cannot believe what just happened. I cannot believe I actually won a Grand Slam,” Krejcikova said in an on-court interview moments after victory.

She can win one more on Sunday as she is also in the women’s doubles final (partnering compatriot Katerina Siniakova). Victory will make her the first woman to win the French Open double since Mary Pierce in 2000.

A women’s doubles champion at the 2018 French Open and Wimbledon, and thrice mixed doubles Australian Open winner, Krejcikova has worn the “doubles specialists” tag for a few years. That changed after the Tour restart last year, when she decided to continue playing singles, well, for fun.

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After participating in a few ITF tournaments, Krejcikova delivered her best Slam show in Paris last October, made a WTA semi-final in Austria the next month and the quarter-final in the WTA Melbourne event in the lead-up to the Australian Open this year. At the WTA 1000 event in Dubai in March, she lost to Garbine Muguruza in the final but her ranking zoomed into the top-50 courtesy the deep run.

In the lead-up to the French Open, she beat Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, in the Round of 32 in Rome, carrying the confidence to win her maiden WTA singles title in Strasbourg last month.

At this French Open, she stunned fifth seed Elina Svitolina in the third round, downed rising American teen Coco Gauff in the quarter-final and edged past Maria Sakkari, the Greek who beat defending champion Iga Swiatek, keeping a cool head in a tight semi-final that went the distance.

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She brought the same calm head to the final if not the consistency overall. Pavlyuchenkova, also a first-time finalist at 29, began the battle with a service break, but that was it for her in the first set. Krejcikova broke right back and then notched up five straight games to for the first set. The Czech was more compact with her baseline game and defensive skills with quality returns of serve, and the Russian, a touch too eager to find winners, played into her hands.

Pavlyuchenkova held serve for the first time in the match to get on board in the second set, gradually growing into the contest. The unforced errors count went up for the Czech, and so did the winners and first serve percentage for the Russian. Her power-filled shots found better shape and bite, breaking Krejcikova in the second and sixth games. Despite needing courtside treatment—her left thigh had to be taped—after being broken, Pavlyuchenkova closed out the set.

Two one-sided sets made way for a tighter start to the decider with both players raising their game, and trading breaks, for 2-2. Krejcikova, with compatriots Martina Navratilova, the 18-times Major winner, and twice French Open champion Jan Kodes watching from the stands, stepped it up a few more notches.

She broke Pavlyuchenkova to love in the seventh game with a well-placed forehand winner. She saw two championship points come and go on Pavlyuchenkova’s serve, and dished out a double fault on the third. But she just about kept her poise, sealing the title when her Russian opponent sent a return long.

Like in her victory speech after the semi-final win, Krejcikova got emotional while thanking Jana Novotna—the former Wimbledon champion was her mentor—who died of cancer at the age of 49 in 2017.

“I know she’s looking after me,” a teary-eyed Krejcikova said, looking skyward. “All this (the success) is because she is looking after me. I spent a lot of time with Jana before she died. Her last words to me were, ‘Enjoy tennis and try and win a Grand Slam’.”