Barbora Krejcikova won one of the four biggest titles in women’s tennis during the 2024 season, but she was still overlooked for the Czech Republic’s top sports award of the year.
Three years after winning her maiden Grand Slam at the French Open, Krejcikova lifted her second major trophy as she won Wimbledon, defeating Jasmine Paolini in three sets in the final.
It was her only title of the campaign as she had an injury-disrupted campaign, yet she still managed to finish the year at No 10 in the WTA Rankings as she also reached the semi-final of the season-ending WTA Finals.
But just like in 2021 following her Roland Garros success, Krejcikova again missed out on the Czech Sportsperson of the Year award as the honour went to canoeist Josef Dostal, who won gold in the K-1 1000m at the 2024 Paris Olympics and also won the K1 500m World Championships.
More than 230 journalists were polled and Dostal finished ahead of Krejcikova with another sprint canoeist Martin Fuksa in third place.
Krejcikova congratulated Dostal, but admits she was “left me with mixed feelings again”.
“I would like to congratulate Josef Dostal for winning this year’s Athlete of the Year poll, as well as the other athletes awarded. Czech sport, is thank god, full of amazing personalities and it is great that they make us happy with their performances and we can be proud of them,” she wrote on Instagram.
“However, I have to admit, that the results of the survey left me with mixed feelings again. I don’t understand that if an Olympic medal is a key criteria, why aren’t our Olympic gold winners this year in the top three? Instead, is Tomas even seventh? And for what reason did Wimbledon beat the Olympics gold medal a few years ago?”
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Marketa Vondrousova won the award in 2023 after she won Wimbledon, but Krejcikova is confused as to why she missed out in 2021 despite winning the French Open and doubles gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
She added: “I had similar feelings from the results of the poll in 2021 when, in addition to the Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in singles and doubles, I won the Olympic gold alongside [Katerina Siniakova], we won the Tournament champion, and even then it was not enough for the overall championship.
“At that moment, I was wondering, what exactly should an athlete win to deserve this award in the eyes of journalists?”
