Since August of last year, Barbora Krejcikova’s coach has been 26-year-old Pavel Motl. They have known each other since childhood. Just before he started working with the Czech, he had already finished his studies at the American University of Tennessee.
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Pavel Motl met Barbora Krejciková when he was eight years old. They met during one of the children’s tournaments. They became friends for years, they trained together. – She beat one of our neighbors 6:0, 6:0. In her year she was in the top five. We went to the gym together, we played together at the Children’s and Youth Olympics of the South Moravian Region. We stayed in touch even after she reached the top. We trained together when she worked with Jana Novotná and Ales Kartus – Motl said in an interview for the daily “Blesk”.
Krejcikova ended her cooperation with Kartus before last year’s Wimbledon. She was looking for a coach and chose someone she knew well, although he had no experience. She decided to take a risk. She trusted Motl enough to propose cooperation. Motl studied psychology and sports management in the US.
– She flew to me, I was in America. The opportunity came up, so I took it and I’m happy about it. I have observations from the university environment, which is not typical for tennis, but some things are similar there – said the Czech.
Since Motl has been working with Krejcikova, the tennis player has reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, won the WTA 500 tournament in San Diego and reached the final of the “five hundred” in Zhengzhou. She has played less recently, the clay season was completely unsuccessful for her, which is why she is only in the fourth ten of the WTA ranking. It is certain that she will improve her position after Wimbledon, but the results can be even better. In the 1/8 finals she will play with the American Danielle Collins.
– She’s a real fighter, but she can be stubborn. Sometimes it’s hard to work with such a character, sometimes it’s easy. Everyone here is under such terrible pressure, under the scrutiny of journalists and cameras, that it’s not easy to be here every day. But I enjoy working with her, she’s very smart and very experienced and she sees a lot of things. If you lead her in the right direction, she’ll do everything exactly as she needs to. I think I fit her – said the 26-year-old.
Despite having a year of experience with the Grand Slam winner (Krejcikova has won such tournaments many times in doubles and mixed, and won the singles at Roland Garros 2021), Motl does not want to call himself a coach.
– I don’t know if I will ever call myself that. For me, tennis is a lifelong journey, regardless of whether I am a coach or a player. For me, it is still the Barbora I saw on the courts as a child and it will remain that way – he concluded.
Barbora Krejcikova will play Danielle Collins on No. 1 Court on Monday in the final match of the day, with the match set to start at 5:30 p.m.
2024-07-08 09:30:00
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