Watch: Barbora Krejcikova's emotional WTA Finals speech brings Martina Navratilova to tears
The Czech duo of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova secured the women's doubles title at the 2021 WTA Finals, defeating the Taiwanese-Belgian pariring of Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens in the summit clash.
The final of the season-ending tournament coincided with the 32nd anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which saw the erstwhile state of Czechoslovakia transition from a non-democratic regime into a parliamentary republic.
The incredible Krejcikova speech yesterday that made Martina (and everyone tbh) cry. Sport! https://t.co/okDy20oJOW
After the match, Krejcikova paid tribute to the "brave Czechoslovakian students and citizens" who protested the communist regime in the region. The 2021 Roland Garros singles champion said that it was because of their sacrifices that her generation could live with "freedom" in a "beautiful country".
"Today is a really special day for the Czech Republic and also our Slovak friends," Krejcikova said. "We call this day the Velvet Revolution. On November 17 1989, Czechs and Slovaks had been one nation. We had very brave Czechoslovakian students and citizens and they went outside to the streets and they had been demonstrating against the non-democratic regime we had then."
"Thanks to them and their sacrifice, my generation can live in a beautiful country back home and we can live without any restrictions and with freedom," she continued. "So everybody understands what was happening back then."
The 25-year-old also addressed a visibly emotional Martina Navratilova, who was part of the trophy presentation ceremony. Navratilova, tired of Czechoslovakia's totalitarian policies which compelled her to put her tennis career on hold and give up a large chunk of her earnings, sought asylum in the US back in 1975.
Krejcikova ended her emotional speech by expressing pride in belonging to the Czech Republic.
"We have here Martina Navratilova who was forced to emigrate from Czechoslovakia because of the regime there," Krejcikova said. "I'm really happy that regime is not there anymore and we can live in freedom."
"So just want to say that I want to thank everybody back home and I really appreciate what they did, how brave they were," she added. "They gave us the opportunity to live in freedom and I'm really proud to be from Czech Republic."
Barbora Krejcikova’s remarks during the trophy ceremony, paying tribute to the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic on this day 32 years ago.
#AKRONWTAFINALS https://t.co/sKGfQ7PN1D
I didn’t struggle, I lost it. Better late than never! Though for me 14 years too late… twitter.com/trentfaust/sta…
Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova climb in doubles rankings
Their triumph at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara has seen Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova rise to No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the latest women's doubles rankings.
Siniakova dislodged Hsieh Su-wei to become the top-ranked woman in doubles. The Czech is poised for her first Year-End No.1 finish; she will be the fourth different player to finish at the top of the list in the past four seasons following Krejcikova (2018), Barbora Strycova (2019) and Hsieh (2020).