Barbora Krejcikova has 'full circle moment' in return to London Eye for Queen's Club draw

It's been a tough go for Barbora Krejcikova since the Czech captured her second Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon last summer. A lingering back injury prevented her from reaching her best form after winning that title, and forced her to miss the first five months of this season, too.

But back in London this week to compete at the WTA 500 event at the Queen's Club, marking the WTA's return to the historic venue for the first time in a half-century, the Czech couldn't stop smiling when she participated in the official draw ceremony alongside tournament director Laura Robson and British pro Jodie Burrage.

But it wasn't just for the cameras: Krejcikova confessed in a social media post afterwards that riding on the famed London landmark represented a "full circle moment" for her, and took her back to how she was feeling less than 24 hours before she topped Jasmine Paolini to win the grass-court major.

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"I usually avoid draw ceremonies like bad luck," she began in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "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."

The former world No. 2's 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Paolini at the All-England Club last July also allowed her to match the achievement of her late mentor Jana Novtona, who had captured the Venus Rosewater Dish 26 years prior.

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Seeded No. 7 at Queen's, Krejcikova will look to win her eighth straight grass-court match when she faces Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova in the opening round.