BARBORA KREJCIKOVA emulated her hero and mentor Jana Novotna – but there were no Royal members available to hand her the Venus Rosewater Dish.
One of Wimbledon’s most iconic images were the scenes in 1993 when Novotna wept uncontrollably on the shoulder of Duchess of Kent following a painful three-sets defeat to Steffi Graf.
Five years later, she would go on to become singles champion, much to the delight of the Centre Court crowd, and have a far happier reunion with the Royal Family.
Before she died of ovarian cancer in November 2017 at the age of 49, Novotna made a point of tutoring the next generation – and her protege came good today.
Krejcikova, 28, hung on every word that Novotna would say in their Czech Republic homeland and came into this final with Jasmine Paolini hoping to make her country proud.
And a 6-2 2-6 6-4 triumph over the Italian Pocket Rocket saw her become the FOURTH woman representing the Czechs to reign on grass and EIGHTH different champion in eight years.
It is just unfortunate that The Princess of Wales, patron of the All England Club, was not present this afternoon, like she has been in previous years to dish out the trophies, as she continues her cancer treatment.
If either finalist had taken a quick glance at the Royal Box, it would have only intensified the butterflies in the stomach they were already feeling.
It is not every day you play tennis in front of a celebrity line-up that includes racquet legends such as Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Conchita Martinez, Maria Sharapova and Marion Bartoli.
The chance to sit alongside them all at a future women’s final was one of the benefits of winning here.
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Not to mention the chance to cash a cheque for £2.7million – the richest prize ever for a Wimbledon triumph.
Krejcikova, the winner of the French Open in 2021, dealt better with the pre-match nerves, breaking the Paolini serve in the opening game with a brilliant forehand winner.
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British crowds love an underdog and tried their best, when Paolini was staring at a 3-0 deficit in the first set, to encourage the Tuscan.
All the support in the world did not make much of a difference in the early stages of the competition on show.
And Krejcikova – who only missed two first serves in the first set – moved 1-0 ahead in 35 minutes after dropping just two out of eight games.
Paolini, who was crushed by Iga Swiatek in last month’s French Open final, did the sensible thing and left the court before the start of the second set to regroup and reset.
The break had an enormous impact – in game two, she finally broke Krejcikova, who was now serving double faults, and when the match clock ticked past an hour, she was 4-1 up.
Eleven minutes later, Paolini, 28, had levelled up and ensured that for the third time in four years, we would have a deciding third set.
Those that feared this might be a routine and boring straight-sets passage for Krejcikova suddenly had value for their money.
The decisive set went with serve until game seven when, on the second break point, Krejcikova took a stranglehold of the match thanks to a Paolini double fault.
Four minutes shy of two hours of combat, after surviving two break points in game 10, No31 seed Krejcikova sealed the greatest moment of her life on her own serve to enter the winners’ enclosure like fellow countrywomen Novotna, two-time champion Petra Kvitova and Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 heroine.
For Paolini, yes this was a crushing disappointment but given that she had only won her first Tour-level match on grass 17 days ago, it is remarkable how well she has adapted to the surface during this Championship fortnight.
PRIZE MONEY for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships is a new record – and puts the grass-court Slam at the top of the tree.
The All England Club will dish out £50million across all the events – an increase of £5.3m and 11.9 per cent on last year, where singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova picked up £2.35m each.
However, the king and queen of grass this July will collect an extra £350,000 – taking the winner’s earnings to £2.7m.
Here is the breakdown for the 2024 Wimbledon singles prize money:
