She won seven matches through the year’s first six months. Then Barbora Krejcikova produced seven straight victories in this fabulous, fraught fortnight at Wimbledon.

Her first-round match at Wimbledon featured a three-set, three-hour victory over Veronika Kudermetova. Beginning in the fourth round, Krejcikova eliminated Danielle Collins and Jelena Ostapenko and Elena Rybakina. The 28-year-old from the Czech Republic was a decided underdog in all of those matches.

The final, a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over determined Jasmine Paolini, was more of the same -- strategic excellence and thumping forehands and go-for-it serves, fired by an all-consuming belief.

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Afterward, Krejcikova called it the best day of her tennis career -- and her life.

“I have no idea why this tournament,” she told reporters. “I mean, I had really tough draw from the very first match. I was just going match by match. I was just feeling better and getting better. 

“Yeah, I mean, here I am. I don’t know how that happened. But, yes, I’m a winner of this edition.”

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Twice as nice

This second major singles title, to go with her 2021 French Open, puts Krejcikova in an entirely different category.

Here’s the very short list of active players with more singles titles at the Grand Slams: Venus Williams (seven), Iga Swiatek (five), Naomi Osaka (four) and Angelique Kerber (three). That’s it.

Krejcikova joins Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep, as well as recently retired Garbiñe Muguruza and new mother Petra Kvitova, who also won a pair. There are no fewer than nine currently active players with a single Grand Slam title to their credit. A second major, especially on a completely different surface, confirms greatness.

Krejcikova’s victory was a tribute to -- and partially a result of -- her mentor, Jana Novotna. As a teenager, Krejcikova and her parents first sought out the 1998 Wimbledon champion in their hometown of Brno, Czech Republic. In a hand-written letter, Krejcikova introduced herself and asked for advice. A week later, they hit for the first time. For three years, Novotna provided guidance as Krejcikova made the transition from juniors to the professional ranks.

Novotna died in 2017 of ovarian cancer, one year before Krejcikova broke through with her first major title, the doubles at Roland Garros with Katerina Siniakova. Now Krejcikova’s name is on the champions’ honor board at the All England Club, right alongside Novotna’s. They still talk, Krejcikova said, in her dreams.

Growing up, Krejcikova kept a notebook, in which she recorded her hopes and dreams. One of them, written at the age of 12, was winning Roland Garros. 

“It was quite a big dream for me to win the French Open,” Krejcikova said. “To be honest, maybe things shifted a little bit when I actually met Jana and when she was telling me all the stories about Wimbledon, about the grass, how difficult it was for her to win the title and how emotional she was when she actually made it.

“I think since then I started to see the Wimbledon like the biggest tournament in the world.”

Joining the unexpected

After the final concluded, ESPN commentator Chris Fowler called the Wimbledon women’s tournament the hardest thing to predict in all of sports. He might have been right.

Recently, the season’s first two Grand Slams have settled into something of a pattern. Aryna Sabalenka has won back-to-back titles at the Australian Open, and Iga Swiatek is 4-for-5 at Roland Garros. Wimbledon, where history lurks at every turn, it’s been a different story.

The Williams sisters won 12 of the first 17 Wimbledons after the turn of this century. Since 2016, when Serena won her seventh title, chaos has been the norm at the staid, starched All England Club.

There had been seven different titlists in a row.  Now we have an eighth. Step forward and receive your gold star if you saw any of the last three Wimbledon champions coming. 

Two years ago, a 23-year-old ranked No.23 crashed into the final and faced No.3 seed Ons Jabeur. After dropping the first set, she came back to win in three. It was the first Grand Slam singles title for Elena Rybakina and her country, Kazakhstan.

Last year, Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win the Wimbledon title in the Open Era.

And now Krejcikova.

Going forward, does this change her personal expectations?

“No,” Krejcikova said. “I still feel the same. I mean, it’s great that I’m a two-time major champion. It’s something unbelievable. I mean, on the other hand, yeah, I'm still the same person. 

“I still love tennis very much.”