The reason why no-one is talking about Barbora Krejcikova ahead of her Wimbledon title defence

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Barbora Krejcikova shocked the world by winning Wimbledon 12 months ago, but has fallen out of the spotlight since.

The Czech WTA star didn’t travel to the All England Club as one of the favorites in 2024, entering the event as the 31st seed.

However, as the big names fell during the early rounds, Krejcikova was there to pick up the pieces, advancing to her maiden Wimbledon final.

There, Krejcikova beat Jasmine Paolini in three sets 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time in her career.

Returning to Wimbledon in 2025, there aren’t many backing the 29-year-old to defend her title.

But why is that? Well, things haven’t quite gone to plan for Krejcikova recently…

Barbora Krejcikova has only won five matches since winning Wimbledon in 2024

Beating Paolini in the 2024 final, Krejcikova clinched her second Major title, having won Roland Garros three years earlier.

Carrying that winning momentum home with her, Krejcikova partnered up with Katerina Siniakova at the Prague Open, where they won the doubles tournament two weeks after her Wimbledon triumph.

It was there that the winning stopped for Krejcikova, as she endured a torrid end to her 2024 campaign, winning just four more matches.

Hoping to bounce back in 2025, the two-time Major winner suffered another setback when Krejcikova withdrew from the Australian Open with a back injury.

That same injury kept her sidelined for the entirety of the hard-court season, before making a return just before the French Open.

Playing her first match in 191 days, Krejcikova fell to defeat against Poland’s Magda Linette in the first round of Strasbourg.

Returning to winning ways, Krejcikova won her first round match at the French Open, beating Tatjana Maria.

Her run came to an end in the second round, however, losing to Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, 0-6, 3-6.

Now scheduled to play in Queen’s and Eastbourne in the lead-up to Wimbledon, Krejcikova will hope to pick up some big wins ahead of her title defence.

Given the year that she’s had since winning Wimbledon in 2024, it’s not hard to understand why she’s being overlooked as a contender for this year’s title.

The likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, and Madison Keys have all impressed in 2025 and will be tough to beat on the grass, whereas Krejcikova has played just three matches.

If the odds weren’t already stacked against her, she’ll have to break a seven-year curse of failed Wimbledon title defences if she wants to pick up her third Grand Slam title next month.

The last seven women’s Wimbledon champions and how they failed to defend the title

Serena and Venus Williams are the only two players to have defended the women’s Wimbledon title this Century, doing so on multiple occasions.

However, since Serena Williams won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016, no player has been able to defend the sole grass-court Major.

The title has proven difficult to win and even harder to retain over recent years, as the likelihood is we will see another first-time champion in 2025.

Former champions in the 2025 Wimbledon field

• Petra Kvitova – 2011, 2014
• Elena Rybakina – 2022
• Marketa Vondrousova – 2023
• Barbora Krejcikova – 2024

She’ll begin her grass-court preparations at the Queen’s Club Championships, an event brought back onto the WTA calendar this year for the first time since 1973.

Krejcikova will kick off her Queen’s campaign against Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova in the first round on Tuesday, June 10.