On Saturday, Barbora Krejcikova won her first Grand Slam singles championship at the French Open, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia to become the first Czech woman to win Roland Garros in 40 years.
History made
Krejcikova, a 25-year-old Czech Republic player, was competing in only her sixth major singles competition. She became the first Czech woman in 40 years to conquer Roland Garros. And she is the third unseeded women’s champion in the last five years at Roland Garros.
Krejcikova will now attempt to become the first woman to win the French Open singles and doubles championships in the same year since Mary Pierce in 2000. Krejcikova and her partner Kateria Siniakova have previously won two Grand Slam doubles championships and will compete in the final of that tournament on Sunday in Paris.
The Champion’s excerpts
An emotional Krejcikova said, “I cannot believe what just happened, I cannot believe that I actually won a Grand Slam. I was going through a really hard time when Jana was passing away, I was most of the time her, and I really wanted to experience this because I thought it’s just going to make me really strong.”
“Pretty much her last words were, ‘Just enjoy and just try to win a Grand Slam. I know that from somewhere she’s looking out for me and all of this, what happened these two weeks is because she is just looking after me probably and I just want to really thank her.”
“It’s amazing that I had a chance to meet her and that she was such an inspiration for me. I just really miss her but I hope she’s happy right now and I’m extremely happy.”
