How 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková found perspective after injury torment

EASTBOURNE, England, Barbora Krejčíková has had plenty of time to think.

The two-time Grand Slam singles champion, who won Wimbledon in 2024, is a player like so many in tennis. Her body cannot seem to consistently withstand the elite level she can produce, does not search for answers anywhere other than within.

“I’m the type of person who analyzes things inside of me,” Krejčíková, who at 30 is also a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion, said during an interview at the Eastbourne Open, the warm-up event for Wimbledon.

“But I’m not really sharing many of the thoughts, I don’t know. I keep it in me, and try to figure out my way.

“I’m not really talking that much about the emotions, I really talk about those in my team and around me but not out loud, in public, in the media. When I get this kind of question about things like this, it’s not easy to talk about it.”

Krejčíková’s delicately curated singles skillset, derived from her doubles success (largely with Czech Republic compatriot Kateřina Siniaková) took some time to bear fruit in singles. But when it does, it is a beautifully potent concoction; baseline disruption, a deft touch to lure opponents in, and elite net play, cutting off angles.

Her variety makes her a menace, particularly on clay and grass, and despite her easy power from the back of the court, her changes in rhythm offer a counterpoint to the all-power players that she often takes apart.

But building momentum has been a challenge. Since 2021, the year the unseeded Krejčíková beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the French Open final to win her first major, injury problems have seen her out for months at a time, a strong 2023 campaign being the notable exception. Her Wimbledon title in 2024, beating Jasmine Paolini in the final, was followed by a particularly challenging period of fitness problems.

A debilitating back injury, inflammation around the spine, kept her out for six months, encompassing the end of 2024, the 2025 Australian Open and bleeding into the clay-court swing. Illness curtailed her Wimbledon title defence in the third round against Emma Navarro, and after all that turmoil, she still managed a run to the U.S. Open quarter-finals.

Krejčíková’s final two matches of 2025 ended in retirement through a knee injury, first sustained against America’s McCartney Kessler at the China Open in October, and which recurred against Anastasija Sevastova at the Limoges Open, a WTA 125 hard-court event two months later.

The 2026 campaign has followed a similar, unfortunate pattern. A left thigh injury had her sidelined between February and May, and hopes of a first singles title since Wimbledon two years ago passed by when she pulled out of her Rosmalen Grass Court Championships final against Robin Montgomery three weeks ago with illness.

“It’s tough, when you’re sidelined, you cannot play, you’re watching the matches, and see the players playing, moving the rankings, competing, in the match rhythm,” Krejčíková said. “They can do what they love, what they enjoy, and you’re sidelined, cannot play.

“It’s tough, it’s frustrating, it’s mentally not easy, but when I look at it from my side, I look at things in a positive way.

“Even though I’m sidelined and cannot play, I’m injured, have this, have that, there is a life outside of tennis. And life outside of tennis is beautiful as well. So I think this kind of perspective is living with the positive mindset, and maybe a little bit more easy.”

“Seeing your friends, seeing your family, you can spend time with your dog, my brother’s kids, so many things.”

As Krejčíková returns to Wimbledon, her body is cooperating for now.

This year, not bearing the weight of a title defense, her Wimbledon first-round win over British wild card Hannah Klugman showed all the signs of Krejčíková trusting her game again. She faced 11 break points but fended off 10 of them, outwitted the teenager’s power with a blend of varied shot-making, never shy on the drop shots.

Disrupting the game of Wednesday’s second-round opponent Mirra Andreeva, the recent French Open champion, will be a significant test, but one Krejčíková has the ability to meet. Facing someone of her grass quality in the second round is exactly what a top-five seed like Andreeva does not need.

“Defending the title, it’s not easy,” Krejčíková says. Not since Serena Williams’ Wimbledon title in 2016 has a women’s champion successfully done so.

“Definitely this year I have zero pressure. Because I’m really glad, really happy I can play, feel healthy, I can compete and practice and do something that I like, which for the first three/four months of the season I wasn’t able to do.

“Same thing last year, last three months of the season I was injured. It’s actually been more difficult than defending any titles.”

Also in her absence, Krejčíková was able to watch players from her nation thrive. The Czech Republic has long been a tennis powerhouse. Martina Navratilova, the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, grew up in Czechoslovakia before she defected to the U.S. in 1981.

Petra Kvitová (2), Krejčíková and Markéta Vondroušová and Jana Novotná, Krejčíková’s former mentor who died aged 49 in 2017 following a battle with cancer, have each won Wimbledon titles.

2021 Wimbledon finalist Karolína Plíšková is a former world No. 1; Krejčíková, alongside Siniaková, completed the Golden Career Slam in doubles (all four majors and Olympic gold).

For the new guard of Czech players establishing themselves among the elite, including Linda Nosková, the 21-year-old world No. 11, and Sára Bejlek and Nikola Bartůňková, both 20, having those examples before them shows what is possible.

“Very special that we have so many great players, the generation of myself, but the young ones as well, coming up,” Krejčíková says.

“Seeing Petra doing great, winning two Slams, seeing Plíšková doing well, reaching the No. 1 spot, we had many other great players, also doubles players, it was definitely a lot of players the younger generation could look up to.

“For me individually, it definitely helped because I could be part of the system and be part of the group of really good players. It’s helped with the evolution of the players’ game.”

Krejčíková has been one of the biggest contributors to the successful Czech era, and now hopes her body will allow her to continue to do so. Forced to watch from the sidelines, her hunger hasn’t dwindled. She is now a “different person” and “definitely a stronger one”.

“It reminds me that I still have the passion for the sport, I still love the sport, after everything I’ve done in my career I still want to be here and still want to play,” Krejčíková said.

“Everything I went through just made me kind of understand that I still have it in me.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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