By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Barbora Krejcikova can finally call herself the queen of the 2024 Wimbledon tennis tournament after taking down Jasmine Paolini in the grand final of the women’s singles category- 6.2, 2.6, 6.4- on July 13, 2024.
Fresh off a stunning upset over the higher-ranked Elena Rybakina to claim a seat in the championship match, Krejcikova’s consistent groundstroke game and mastery of the grass surface propelled her against Paolini who was also having one of her best Grand Slam campaigns in her career.
Unlike her past performance where she had to give up the opening set, Krejcikova this time raced to a waxing hot start in the grand final and pummeled Paolini to wrap up an early 1-0 lead in just 16 minutes of action.
Krejcikova immediately banked on her baseline power to keep Paolini out of her usual hitting rhythm and also had a varied offensive approach that kept her guessing most of the time.
Surprisingly, Krejcikova also dominated in the net and went up in the no man’s land four times midway through the opening set, a strategy that Paolini didn’t see coming during their grand final showdown.
Just when Krejcikova thought she already figured Paolini out after that blitzing first-set performance, the Italian ace showed some signs of life after bouncing back in the second frame to make the championship match interesting.
To kick off her impressive fightback, Paolini had to lessen her unforced errors first then followed it up with an improved service game.
With a more consistent first ball service, Paolini had an easier time setting up her baseline attacks that piled up the points to level the match at 1-1.
Tensions then rose at the center court of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club as both players engaged in a slugfest that kept the third and last set close.
However, it was Krejcikova who scored the first break point of the crucial third set, a major turnaround that led her to a much-needed cushion to cruise through the championship points.
Paolini never recovered and failed to counter with a break point, rewarding Krejcikova with her second overall Grand Slam championship trophy.
