Coming into The Championships 2021, Karolina Pliskova admits she was feeling so despondent about her form that she wondered if she would even get beyond the first week.

But her coach Sascha Bajin was convinced she would reach the final – and so she has, coming back from the grim loss of the first set to defeat No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the semi. 

“The dream was to make the second week because I hadn’t done that for a while,” confessed the 29-year-old Czech with a grin.

“I never thought about maybe going into the final. But Sascha was super confident in me. After the match he said, ‘I told you that you were going to make the final’. I still half can’t believe it.” 

Pliskova hooked up with Bajin, who has previously worked with Naomi Osaka, at the turn of the year.

Until Wimbledon, concrete tournament progress was hard to find, with the former world No.1’s ranking slipping out of the top ten for the first time since 2016 just as she arrived here. But by reaching the final she is guaranteed to spring back up to No.7, and will bounce up to No.4 if she can defeat Ashleigh Barty on Saturday. 

The win over Sabalenka was all the more remarkable after a first set in which Pliskova could not convert a single one of eight break points, before double faulting on set point. 

“I was super-pissed about that,” she declared frankly. “I had so many chances in the first set. I thought especially the last game I could do much better. Not only the double-fault. I had two easy shots early in the game. I was getting frustrated about not making the chances I had. 

“But I definitely thought I could win the second set because any time I was in the rally, I felt quite confident the point would be mine.

So it was only about the serve, and being patient, which is tough – especially for me. But it worked out in the end. I’m super proud about how I handled the situation. 

“Earlier in the year I was close to playing a good level. It’s not that I was playing horrible. Sometimes you’re just missing a little bit and you’re not doing anything wrong, so it’s important to just hang in there. In practice I was playing well and then not really in the tournaments. So I’m very happy.” 

For her part, 23-year-old Sabalenka said she felt the gulf in experience was the key, although she wrongly believed that Pliskova had either won Wimbledon previously or made the final. 

“She just returned like crazy, and I couldn’t do anything,” said the No.2 seed. “In the games she broke me, I did everything I could. It’s a tough loss.”

In fact Pliskova’s only previous Grand Slam final was as runner-up to then world No.1 Angelique Kerber at the 2016 US Open. Now she must face the current top-ranked player in Barty, who holds a 4-2 advantage in their Tour-level meetings.

The Czech won their only grass encounter at Nottingham five years ago, while Barty edged their most recent on the Stuttgart clay this year. But Pliskova also had a losing record to Sabalenka, so she is feeling positive. 

“Really I think it couldn’t be better,” said Pliskova. “We’ve had some good matches. It's going to be difficult on grass because of her slice and just her game overall. It's a final. Anything can happen. I think we both have a good chance. 

“I know I have beaten her. I know I lost a couple of times, but every time it was a close match. I never played a horrible match against her. Of course she makes you feel a bit ugly with the game she's playing. But I had a lot of chances in our last match. I’m not expecting anything easy, but definitely there are going to be chances. You want to play the best player in the final – I don’t want anybody else there but her.”