‘I had to pick it up’ – Barbora Krejcikova fumes at time violation at Australian Open in match against Jelena Ostapenko

Barbora Krejcikova was left fuming after she was hit with a time violation during her third-round match against Jelena Ostapenko at the Australian Open.

The 26-year-old took an eight-minute toilet break between sets, meaning she received a time violation. And she did not take kindly to the umpire’s intervention as she felt she had a valid reason for the delay – a broken necklace.

“You know why [I was delayed]? Because I broke my necklace. I had to pick it up,” she exclaimed.

It was an explanation that did not hold water with the umpire and an irate, fuming Krejcikova added: “And I’m getting a time violation. What’s next?”

Murray was fuming and the new rules were brought in to tighten up players’ conduct around what had previously been a grey area. And a clearly disgruntled Krejcikova has now fallen foul of those rules.

Next up for Krejcikova is a match against two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, who beat Elina Svitolina.

And Krejcikova – winner of the French Open in 2021 in a breakout year in singles – says playing Azarenka represents a unique, special challenge.

“Playing Vika, it’s very special. It’s unique. It’s a unique situation. I’m really happy that I’m going to be able to face her again and see where my level is right now,” she began.

“I mean, I really admire her. I really like the way she plays. I remember when I was a junior here and she was playing, she was actually winning the titles.

“I spent a lot of time watching her on TV. Now having the chance to play against her, you telling me she has nice words about me, it feels really, really nice.

“I’m looking forward for this challenge, for this battle. It was also one of the things that I was thinking about during the match.

“Okay, you got to work harder so you can play Vika. I feel really, really honoured that I am going to play with her on the same court against her. I think it’s going to be a great match.”

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