By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday, October 9, 2022
Barbora Krejcikova’s 2022 – let’s face it – has been a slog on the singles court (she's been a force in doubles, per usual, winning the last two Slams with partner Katerina Siniakova). A season that started with promise (a final in Sydney and a trip to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open) later was marred by an elbow injury that kept Krejcikova off the tour for several months, and took her completely off of her game for a few more.
But now that the former World No.2 is touting a nine-match winning streak after winning back-to-back titles in Tallinn and Ostrava, she is feeling better about her 2022 season – and her prospects for 2023.
Krejcikova, who recorded a win over a reigning World No.1 for the first time as she snapped Iga Swiatek’s ten-match winning streak in tour-level finals on Sunday, has suddenly gone from flailing to firing on all cylinders.
The 26-year-old improved her record to 25-14 on the season, and increased her career title count to five.
In an interview on Sunday, she told WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen that she wasn’t really share when things clicked for her.
"There was a lot of work behind it, tough days, emotions, a lot of everything," she said. "But overall I really don't know what happened, what clicked. I think it's just the hard work and trusting the process and believing that my chance is going to come."
Before last week in Estonia (Tallinn) the Czech had not recorded a Top-30 win since January. Two weeks later, she has six more Top-30 victories under her belt (No.1 Swiatek, No.3 Anett Kontaveit, Wimbledon champion and No.26 Elena Rybakina, No.14 Belinda Bencic (twice) and No.15 Beatriz Haddad Maia).
She never stopped believing, after a 2021 season that saw her win her maiden major, that she has what it takes to mix it up with the elite of the sport.
“I always felt like it's there, it's just hiding,” she told Nguyen. “I didn't just forget all that I did last year. I still felt like it's there.
“I'm really pleased that everything that I went through and everything that happened, it changed me and gave me extra energy. I think I'm a different player, a different person. I'm really happy to be part of the big game again.”