The Baseline Awards: Team Chemistry

The Baseline Awards are back with a look at the noteworthy accomplishments of 2021.

Was there any player that had more of a year-over-year glow-up than Barbora Krejcikova this past season?

The Czech finished 2020 ranked 65, and ended this year in the top five on the strength of her first Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros.

And while she was making strides in that discipline, her doubles game didn’t suffer at all. In fact, Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, her partner since their junior days, re-established themselves as the team to beat on the WTA Tour.

The duo started off the year with a nine-match winning streak, which included a run to the final at the Australian Open, their first major championship-round appearance in nearly three years. When the clay-court stretch came around, Krejcikova and Siniakova claimed the top prize at the 1000-level event in Madrid, then captured their second career Roland Garros title, only dropping one set along the way.

Back in 2018, the pair followed up their French Open win with a triumph at Wimbledon, a feat they had accomplished in the juniors several years prior. However, they weren’t able to pull off the clay-to-grass sweep this year, falling in the quarterfinals at the All England Club. Krejcikova and Siniakova rebounded from that disappointment to win the gold medal at the Olympics in women’s doubles.

Though they went through a title-winning drought through the rest of the summer and into the fall, the duo closed out the season with a perfect run at the WTA Finals, dominating from group play to the knockout stage to win their first title at the event.

It was a tremendous season for Krejcikova and Siniakova. And even as they made gains on the singles side, they showed in 2021 that they’ll always be a force when they take the court together.