'I spent the night at the London Eye - then I woke up and won Wimbledon'

Barbora Krejcikova beat the odds to become Wimbledon champion in 2024, getting the better of Jasmine Paolini in a thrilling three-set match. However, she spent the previous evening at the London Eye and travelling on the tube, enjoying life in the capital before one last time on the SW19 courts that year.

Krejcikova, who had already taken the French Open title in 2021, admitted she was "so nervous" heading into a final against the energetic Paolini. She had never reached the quarter-final at the All England Club before the run to the final and had to find some way to calm her nerves.

The 29-year-old returned to London this year to participate in the draw for the Queen's Club tournament, this time featuring a women's competition for the first time since 1973.

When asked, Krejcikova was more than happy to accept the request when she found out it would be taking place at one of the city's most iconic attractions, the site where she spent the night before winning Wimbledon.

"[I] usually avoid draw ceremonies like bad luck," she wrote on X. "Partly because I'm superstitious, and partly because I don't want to know who I'm playing until I absolutely have to.

"But when @QueensTennis asked me to do it inside the London Eye, I couldn't say no. Why? Because last year, the night before the Wimbledon final, I was sooo nervous I jumped on the Tube and rode to the London Eye just to chill out a bit. And it clearly worked."

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She did not even step on the practice court that day and revealed that she took the spontaneous trip because during her many trips to London and Wimbledon, she had never been on the Eye before.

"Well, last year, the day before the finals, I didn't go to any tennis, I didn't play any tennis," she admitted. "I just wanted to disappear from Wimbledon because it was very overwhelming what was happening there, and we decided to take a train and just to go to the city centre.

"We had a little walk around the London Eye and then the streets and we had a dinner there as well.

"I mean that's how I got to the city and to see the London Eye, I remember last year when we went there, we actually wanted to take a ride, but it was already closed because it was quite late.

"So when I got the opportunity this year, I said yes right away, because I really wanted to experience this and I thought it's a very nice thing and very nice from the organising point.

"It's something different, you know, [to] really experience this draws ceremony during a different, like during different events. So I was really happy and privileged that I was the one chosen to do this draw, even though I'm very superstitious and I don't like to do the draw!"