Wimbledon finalist Barbora Krejcikova pays tribute to LGBTQ+ fans
Barbora Krejcikova paid tribute to the LGBTQ+ fans ahead of the Wimbledon final. (Getty)
Tennis star Barbora Krejcikova had paid tribute to the LGBTQ+ community ahead of the Wimbledon ladies singles final.
The 28-year-old Czech, who is set to play Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini in the ladies singles final at SW19 at around 2pm BST on Sunday (13 July), sent a message of support to her LGBTQ+ fans during a Q&A on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Saturday, just hours before taking to Centre Court.
World number 32 Krejcikova, who is competing in her first Wimbledon final, was asked by a fan: “What message do you have for your fans that are part of the LGBT community?”.
The athlete, who lifted her first Grand Slam at the French Open in 2021 as has been ranked as high as world number two, replied: “That they are amazing and brave”, alongside an emoji of a smiling face with stars in its eyes.
Krejcikova’s enthusiastic message marks an important statement of LGBTQ+ allyship in a sport where there are currently no out male professional tennis players.
There are however a number of out female players on the women’s tour, with a number of them taking to the court at Wimbledon this year.
LGBTQ+ tennis fans responded warmly to Krejcikova’s message, with many users declaring her “mother”.
“Love to see vocal support for LGBTQ folks from professional tennis players”, wrote one X user.
“Now I want her to win tomorrow even more”, added another.
Victory over Paolini in Sunday’s Wimbledon ladies singles final would propel Krejcikova back into the world’s top 10 – with some new LGBTQ+ fans in tow, no doubt.
Since the days of trailblazing gay Grand Slam champions Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, women’s tennis has long provided some of the biggest LGBTQ+ names in sport.
However, the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour continues to lag way behind the women’s game: There are currently no out gay players on the men’s tour and no professional male tennis player has come out publicly in the Open Era while still playing the game.
American former world number 57 Brian Vahaly came out publicly as gay in 2017, a decade after retiring from the sport.
