Barbora Krejcikova publicly questioned the decision-making process behind putting her second on the list for the Czech Sportsperson of the Year.
The sudden turnaround in Krejcikova's 2024 season was extraordinary. She was sidelined with an injury for two months until the start of the clay court swing in April and struggled for form after returning.
Krejcikova won the 2021 French Open but had not consistently challenged for singles Grand Slams since that surprising run. Her injury woes at the start of 2024 being added to that meant expectations dropped even lower.
That made what Krejcikova achieved at Wimbledon the most unexpected moment of the WTA season. The 29-year-old shocked tennis fans worldwide by winning a maiden singles title at SW19.
Her success at the grass-court Grand Slam was even more extraordinary because of how close she came to being eliminated in the opening rounds. Krejcikova won a brutal opening round against Veronika Kudermetova 7-5 in the third set.
After that mammoth effort, Krejcikova was struggling physically in the second set against the gritty Katie Volynets in the next round. She almost certainly would have lost had Volynets taken the match to a deciding set, but Krejcikova won two close tiebreaks to progress.
No one could stop her after that. Victories against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Danielle Collins, Jelena Ostapenko, Elena Rybakina, and Jasmine Paolini completed her memorable and unexpected run in London.
The WTA changed rules in 2024 that allowed Grand Slam champions to qualify for the WTA Finals if they finished inside the Top 20 for ranking points meant Krejcikova was among the eight players who made it to the event in Saudi Arabia. Daria Kasatkina criticized the rules that allowed the Czech to qualify.
Krejcikova completed her memorable season by reaching the semifinal, including a win against eventual champion Coco Gauff in the round-robin phase. She lost at that stage to this year's Olympic gold medalist, Qinwen Zheng.
Those achievements led to Krejcikova being placed at No. 2 for the Czech Player of the Year. Canoeist and Olympic gold medalist Josef Dostal was chosen ahead of Krejcikova and others at No. 1.
Although Krejcikova congratulated Dostal, this year's Wimbledon champion questioned how the decision was reached. She asked why other gold medalists were not ahead of her on the list and also pointed to inconsistencies compared to previous years.
"I would like to congratulate Josef Dostal for winning this year's Athlete of the Year poll, as well as the other athletes awarded. Czech sport, is thank god, full of amazing personalities and it is great that they make us happy with their performances and we can be proud of them."
"However, I have to admit, that the results of the survey left me with mixed feelings again. I don't understand that if an Olympic medal is a key criteria, why aren't our Olympic gold winners this year in the top three? Instead, is Tomas even seventh? And for what reason did Wimbledon beat the Olympics gold medal a few years ago?"
"I had similar feelings from the results of the poll in 2021 when, in addition to the Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in singles and doubles, I won the Olympic gold alongside [Katerina Siniakova], we won the Tournament champion, and even then it was not enough for the overall championship. At that moment, I was wondering, what exactly should an athlete win to deserve this award in the eyes of journalists?"
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