“I Feel Tired”- Barbora Krejcikova Admits She Would Have Skipped Prague if Not for One Thing

Barbora Krejčíková has been upfront about how tired she is, despite her winning streak. The second seed extended her streak to seven straight victories with a 6-4, 6-2 win over wildcard and compatriot Lucie Havlickova in the second round of the Livesport Prague Open. The Czech admitted afterwards that she would not even be on court right now if the tournament were played anywhere else.

“I feel tired,” Krejcikova said after the win, which took an hour and 46 minutes to complete. “If it wasn’t played in the Czech Republic, I wouldn’t play, I’ll tell you that straight away. I’m playing because I want to play here in front of Czech fans.

“This opportunity comes once a year, and I’m very happy for it. There’s no longer a domestic Fed Cup or anything like that where we play in front of our own fans. So I’m happy that I can be here and show them off, it gives me energy.”

The result continued a strong recent run for the 2024 Wimbledon and 2021 Roland Garros champion, who arrived in Prague fresh off winning her first title in two years last week in Athens. She opened her campaign with a straight-sets win over Linda Fruhvirtova before the tighter victory over Havlickova.

A 21-year-old wildcard who has climbed from outside the world’s top 800 a year ago to No. 226 currently, having also upset 67th-ranked Alycia Parks in the first round. With that momentum, Havlickova failed to capitalize on her sole break point chance against Krejcikova, who produced a solid first serve, winning 77 percent of those points.

Prague is definitely on Krejcikova’s calendar no matter how her body feels, as far as she is concerned. She won the tournament in 2021 and has an 87.5 percent win rate in the main draw. Considering her ITF and qualifying matches in her early days, the win rate stands at 73.2 percent across her career in the Czech Republic, her best record by country anywhere on tour.

She now moves on to face fellow Czech Dominika Salkova, who reached the quarter-finals as a qualifier off the back of a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Oceane Dodin, in what will be their first-ever meeting at tour level.

The two-time Grand Slam champion has found her rhythm this season after suffering through a severe back injury last year, standing at an impressive 20-8 season record. She has already made it to three final appearances and seems unlikely to stop it from making it to a fourth.

Her 2021 breakthrough, featuring her home title, is something she’ll aim to replicate and improve upon in an already remarkable season.

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