Barbora Krejcikova Championship Speech | 2026 Athens

Maria had such a great speech, so it will be really tough to beat such a long and nice speech. I would like to start with you. What a match, what a day today, what a tournament, what a week. It's been a huge privilege to be here with you today at such a historical moment for you. I think playing in front of the home crowd is something very, very special. I'm really pleased and happy that you could experience it. I mean, even though today... Maria, you're such a great fighter, such a very nice person. We know each other since we were 12, so it's been many, many years. Congratulations for this week, good luck for the rest of the season and also in your career. Also congratulations to your team and to your family and to everybody that's been involved in your tennis, in your career. They did a pretty, pretty good job and I wish you all the best. I'd like to thank all the organizers, everybody that's behind the scenes, that's making this tournament possible. For me, it was the first time here in Greece. I always wanted to visit and I never really had an opportunity to do so. So I'm really happy that I could visit and that I could enjoy the city center and eat some of the really, really great Greek food. I had a very, very nice 10 days. I just want to really thank everybody that's made this tournament possible. I hope it's going to be here in the future as well. Also, I'd like to thank everybody that came here today. It was such a great atmosphere. I think the stands were very, very full and it's been a privilege and a really nice moment for me to be here and play in front of you and get such a nice atmosphere and full support. So thank you everybody. Thank you to my team, to my coach Jiří, to Lenka, to my fitness coach Tomáš, to everybody that's back in Czech Republic, to my family, to all of my closest. I am really, really proud that we are standing here today. It's been such a tough year for me and for us as a team, but the moments like this are why we are working every single day very hard and why we're sticking up together even in good or bad days. So thank you guys very much for being here with me and I'm looking forward to more. Thank you.