London, July 13: Mathematicians know nothing. It turns out there is such a thing as a game of three halves. Just ask the Centre Court crowd.
In the battle of the first-time Wimbledon finalists, Barbora Krejcikova delivered a first set of near-transcendent perfection. Touch, power, intelligent slice – her all-court game was a display of such irresistible serenity that it seemed impossible Jasmine Paolini could find any answer on a surface which so clearly favoured the Czech.
If this meeting was to develop into a match, then it needed the No.7 seed to roar back in the fabulous, feisty, fighting form evident during every round over the last Fortnight. And lo! This was the Paolini who crash-landed on to the court at the start of the second chapter.
Brushed aside in the first, she peeled herself off the canvas to create a lightning reset, not so much upping the aggression as tearing the dial right off. The Czech, so serene mere minutes previously, seemed as stunned as everyone else.The cognoscenti had forecast that Krejcikova would be vulnerable to nerves if a tight third set materialised. Having worn down Paolini into error, she trembled on the brink of victory, until amid unbearable tension, she made it happen. She won 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 and is Wimbledon champion 2024.As Krejcikova stepped forward to receive the Venus Rosewater Dish from All England Club chair Deborah Jevons, the No.31 seed gazed at the famous trophy in patent disbelief. It was as if she hardly dared hold it, lest the touch of her fingers turn the gilt icon to dust. “It’s unreal what just happened,” the 28-year-old said. “This is definitely the best day of my career and my life.“It was such a difficult match. I was telling myself to be brave. At the end I was the lucky one. I didn’t know I could win until the very last point. I still can’t believe that I’m standing here, Wimbledon winner. How did that happen? I have no idea.”At the end of her turnaround semi-final triumph over hot favourite Elena Rybakina, Krejcikova wept for her beloved mentor, Jana Novotna. This time there were no tears at the mention of the late 1998 Wimbledon champion’s name, only joy.
“The day I knocked on her door changed my life,” she said. “I never really dreamed I would win the same trophy she did in 1998.” But she has. Let no one say Krejcikova was carried to this triumph by the spirit of her mentor. Inspired to it, yes; but the victory was all hers.
It’s a strange quirk of Krejcikova’s career that since she lifted the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen at Roland-Garros in 2021, she has not won a singles match there. What player would refuse that deal, if it was offered by the tennis gods?
But who knows what either Krejcikova or Paolini, born just 17 days apart, might yet accomplish? No one foresaw that they would be the last two standing here.
Paolini has already made her mark as the first woman from her nation to reach the final here, and Krejcikova paid tribute to her skill in making that happen so soon after becoming runner-up to Iga Swiatek on the Roland-Garros clay.There, as here, Paolini enraptured the public as much for her charm as her play. The mere words “hello, everybody” to the Centre Court crowd were enough to have them on their feet. She spoke of feeling their love, and confessed to feeling “a little bit sad.” (AP)
