Barbora Krejcikova or Jasmine Paolini: for the eighth time in as many editions, Wimbledon will crown a different champion on Saturday and it will be a new surprise, to the point that the players themselves find it hard to believe.
If someone had told you a year ago that you would be in the Wimbledon final on Saturday? “Even two months ago, I would have said: ‘You’re crazy!’” replied Paolini, the first Italian woman to reach the women’s final, and the second representative from her country to do so after Matteo Berrettini in 2021.
It must be said that before reaching the semi-finals in Eastbourne with two victories, the week before the Major on grass, Paolini had not won a single match on grass in his career at 28 years old and nine seasons on the circuit.
But for the past few months, she has been on an upward slope: a year ago, she was hovering around fiftieth in the world and she reached seventh after her final in June at Roland-Garros.
On the contrary, Krejcikova won the French Open in 2021 and reached world number two in 2022, but in recent months injuries and illness have largely truncated her season and she was playing at Wimbledon as a 32e worldwide.
” Another one “
“I’ve had some very difficult moments,” she admits. “I would never have imagined, four weeks ago, that I would be able to reach the final at Wimbledon, that I would have become another player.”
While Paolini reached the final in Paris, Krejcikova left the tournament in the first round.
“But I’m really happy to have fought, to have gotten through this period and to be here now,” she hastens to clarify.
Because that is what the bubbling Italian and the more placid Czech have in common: a fighting spirit.
Beyond creating a surprise, the two finalists displayed certain qualities during the fortnight, first and foremost the desire to never give up.
Paolini thus benefited in the round of 16 from the withdrawal of Madison Keys (13e) after 2h23 and while the two players were at 5-5 in the deciding set.
Then she delivered the longest semi-final in the history of women’s singles at Wimbledon, dismissing Donna Vekic (37e) 10/8 in the super tie-break after 2h51 of arm wrestling.
While she was being manhandled by the Croatian, Paolini kept telling herself that “the match [pouvait] turn at any time”.
For her part, Krejcikova took the upper hand in the semi-finals against the 2022 winner and terrifying waitress Elena Rybakina (4e), after losing the first set.
Thought for a mentor
“I fought for every ball, that’s what she would have wanted me to do,” said the Czech, referring to her mentor Jana Novotna, the 1998 Wimbledon champion who died of cancer in 2017.
Krejcikova also has the advantage of having won the Wimbledon doubles tournament twice (2018, 2022) and she considers her doubles successes to be “a big help” for the singles.
Surprisingly, both players are very calm before the final.
“Before the tournament, I had this complicated period so I told myself that I had to enjoy everything even more than what I was doing. My state of mind is to have fun more than what I stress and so far, it works for me,” explains Krejcikova, who goes even further: “I am enjoying this Wimbledon much more than Roland-Garros in 2021 because I am less nervous. At the time, it was my first final, now that I have already won a Major, it is different.”
Paolini, for her part, is coming off a heavy defeat in Paris against Iga Swiatek.
So her approach to the final is precisely to “not think about where (she) is.”
“Sometimes I think, ‘Come on, have fun but stay focused and think about what you need to do to get on the court and give 100%.’ You have to find the balance between having fun and being focused,” she explains.
One thing is certain: on Saturday there will be “a fight on both sides,” Krejcikova promises.