Barbora Krejčíková and Teddy the cockapoo: the bond that built a Wimbledon champion

American-born Porter, who bought the family home in Wimbledon in 1997, remembers the first day Krejčíková arrived as an inexperienced 19-year-old. Krejčíková was patiently waiting for her famous coach and mentor, 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, to land in London.

“Barbora came in and sat at my kitchen counter where she still sits today,” Porter says.

“She asked me excitedly, ‘Do you know who my coach is?’ She was just so proud of it. I’ll never forget that first afternoon.”

As an avid tennis fan, Porter was delighted to have them stay, but never imagined she would form such a strong relationship with her young lodger. But Krejčíková returned each year and became a part of their extended family.

Tennis players live transient lives, travelling to different tournaments and hotel rooms each week. But in the Porter family home, Krejčíková found an anchor midway through each season.

After Novotna lost her life to cancer in 2017, Krejčíková would often come to Wimbledon alone and Porter would keep her company.

“She would kindly give me credentials,” Porter said.

“So I’d be sitting on Court 14 or wherever watching a match and I’d get a text from Barbora saying, ‘What are you doing, would you like to have lunch with me?’ Of course I did! I really was, for a couple of years, her support team and it was really special.”

Porter, who is in her 60s and retired, has attended every one of Krejčíková’s matches in singles and doubles over the last 10 years. That included every qualifying match played at Roehampton in the early years, as Krejčíková played the singles main draw for the first time only in 2021.

“They came with the dog and were cheering for me, and even learned some Czech words,” Krejčíková says.

“All of this stuff means the bond is there. It’s tough to describe, but it’s very, very strong.”

Krejčíková is the 2021 French Open champion and has won seven major doubles titles – including two at Wimbledon – but before last year, her best result in singles was the fourth round. She was a huge underdog, as only the 31st seed, but Porter says she was not surprised when she won.

“I always knew she could do it, I always knew she was a lot better than people were giving her credit for,” she says.

While Porter and her husband have sat in the players’ box on Centre Court, rubbed shoulders with nine-time champion Martina Navratilova and even attended the Champions’ Dinner last year as part of Krejčíková’s entourage, the best memories both she and Krejčíková point to are nights spent at home.

They have familiar routines: Krejčíková walks the dog on Wimbledon Common with Porter’s husband on some evenings after her matches; sometimes she and Porter watch television on the sofa – Glee used to be a favourite, now it’s sometimes a medical drama or catching up on Glastonbury.

During Krejčíková’s run to the title, amid the noise and pressure at the tournament, the Porter home was a quiet oasis of barbecue nights and evenings spent playing cards. She even did her post-match stretching in the family living room.

“I come back and I don’t think of tennis, I just live a normal life,” Krejčíková, 29, says.

“The tennis, I mean, it gets stressful. [At home] I can be very grounded during the tournament. This social bonding was I think the most beautiful part for me of off-court life. It’s very nice to get out of the bubble and talk with somebody else.”

Krejčíková is perhaps the most low-key Wimbledon champion of recent years. She has a multi-faceted, technically-sound game and is a fierce competitor, but off the court she is unassuming. Despite having two major titles and an Olympic gold medal, she is far from a household name beyond the Czech Republic. Spending six months of the last 12 sidelined by a back injury has not helped to boost her profile either.

Even if it had, she would not be making alternative living arrangements for this year. Last year Krejčíková and her team took over four bedrooms at the Porter home and will do the same this time: “I love the family and am also quite superstitious so I’m wanting to stay there – as long as they want me.”

She speaks with The Observer while pedalling away on an exercise bike at the All England Club. After losing her first-round match at Queen’s, she took the opportunity to visit the Porters and use her exclusive Wimbledon membership card for the first time.

She invited Porter along to mark her first visit through the gates as a member, but ran into some trouble. Wimbledon’s most famous champion Roger Federer was memorably refused entry by a security guard after he forgot his membership card, and Porter says Krejčíková was adamant she would not make the same mistake.

She was mortified then when her card didn’t work, but luckily the technical glitch was quickly rectified.

“Barbora said to me, ‘I’m not Roger Federer, I haven’t won eight Wimbledon titles, I won’t forget my card’, so it was funny they had decommissioned that one,” Porter says. They laughed about it after, and spent the morning taking photos.

Krejčíková is not one of the favourites, because this is only her fourth tournament since her return from injury.

Wimbledon is not an easy title to defend either. The last eight have produced eight different female winners, and Krejčíková’s compatriot Markéta Vondroušová was dumped out in the first round as defending champion last year.

But after so long on the sidelines, the trophy is not front of her mind for Krejčíková.

“The biggest relief is that I am pain free,” she says.

“Anything else that comes is a huge bonus. The injury wasn’t pleasant but now I’m looking forward to playing here and coming back as defending champion. I still believe in myself and that I can do well.”

Whatever happens, the Porters will be flying the flag – quite literally. They proudly put the Czech flag up outside their home when Krejčíková reached the latter stages last year. The results are secondary to them though.

“We keep in touch all year round,” Porter says.

“Another thing Barbora does, is when she leaves Wimbledon after she’s lost or won, she texts me when she lands in Prague. It’s just like my children – only more thoughtful because some of my boys, they forget! It’s so sweet, like she’s not leaving me completely behind.

“I have three sons and I’ve always thought of her as a bit like a daughter. I know she has parents who love her very much so I’m not trying to usurp that, I just know that she’ll for ever be in my life.”

Photographs: Sophia Evans for The Observer