WATCH: “They gave us the opportunity to live in freedom” Barbora Krejcikova delivers an emotional tribute, leaves Martina Navaratilova in tears
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Martina Navaratilova and Barbora Krejcikova
Barbora Krejcikova, along with Katerina Siniakova won the doubles title at the 2021 WTA Finals. The Czech duo were defeated Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-Wei in straight sets to lift the year-end championship’s trophy. The WTA Finals are placed at the end of the tennis calendar, and grant participation to the top 8 singles and doubles players, who are divided into 2 groups of 4. Both set of players in the finale this year belonged to the Group El Tajín.
“I appreciate how brave they were” – Barbora Krejcikova talks about the Velvet Revolution
The Czech pairing of Krejcikova and Siniakova had an easy win against their Taiwanese-Belgian opponents. After the match, tennis legend Martina Navaratilova was called up to present the trophy. After receiving the prize, Barbora Krejcikova gave a powerful speech that left Navaratilova in tears.
Krejcikova said, “Today is a really special day for the Czech Republic and also our Slovak friends. We call this day the Velvet Revolution. On November 17 1989, Czechs and Slovaks had been one nation. We had very brave Czechoslovakian students and citizens and they went outside to the streets and they had been demonstrating against the non-democratic regime we had then. Thanks to them and their sacrifice, my generation can live in a beautiful country back home and we can live without any restrictions and with freedom.”
She further continued: “So everybody understands what was happening back then, we have here Martina Navratilova who was forced to emigrate from Czechoslovakia because of the regime there. I’m really happy that regime is not there anymore and we can live in freedom. So I just want to say that I want to thank everybody back home and I really appreciate what they did, how brave they were. They gave us the opportunity to live in freedom and I’m really proud to be from Czech Republic.”
Also read: WATCH: Alexis Ohanian gushes over Serena Williams; posts a previously unseen wedding video
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Aradhana Nayak
(189 Articles Published)