Voice_Crejczykova: The Most Wonderful Day of My Life

The Wimbledon Championship has once again crowned an unexpected women’s singles champion for the third consecutive year. No. 31 seed, Crejczykova, reclaimed her place at the pinnacle of Grand Slam singles competition after three years, joining the ranks of women’s tennis players with two Grand Slam titles.

At the press conference, Crejczykova expressed that this was the most wonderful day of both her career and her life.

“I have no idea why I won this tournament,” she said in an interview. “I faced a tough draw from the very first match, and I just kept playing one match at a time, improving my game as I went along. Now, here I am, and I can’t explain how it all happened.”

When asked at the press conference whether winning Wimbledon would change her life, the Czech player responded, “I know that I’m now a two-time Grand Slam champion, something that’s hard for me to believe. However, I’m still the same person, still deeply in love with tennis.”

During the award ceremony, Crejczykova spoke about her late mentor, Novotna: “I still can’t believe it; I never thought I’d win the same trophy as Jana did in 1998!” When she saw Novotna’s name on the champions’ wall, Crejczykova shed tears.

In 2014, when her tennis career hit a roadblock, Crejczykova summoned the courage to knock on Novotna’s door for guidance and help. Unfortunately, Novotna passed away due to illness at the end of 2017.

“Winning the French Open title in (2021) fulfilled a huge dream for me at the time,” Crejczykova said. “Honestly, everything might have changed when I met Jana. She told me all about her experiences at Wimbledon, what grass courts are like, how difficult it is to win the Wimbledon title, and how emotional she was when she lifted that trophy. From then on, I started to view Wimbledon as the most important event in the world.”

(Translated by Wang Fei)