Barbora Krejcikova discusses her motivation, goals

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Czech tennis star Barbora Krejcikova has accomplished a lot over the last year but insists her motivation is still sky high. Krejcikova, 26, captured her maiden Grand Slam title last year after beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the French Open final.

Krejcikova was one of the most consistent players last year as she was regularly making deep stages at tournaments. Krejcikova is currently enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world. “There are still a lot of tournaments that I haven’t won yet," Krejcikova acknowledged, per Arab News.

“There are still a lot of players that are ahead of me right now. It’s just a lot of motivation. I see other players are doing well, they are improving every single day. I want to improve with them and I want to get better than them.

That’s the biggest motivation. I don’t really have lack of motivation right now”.

Krejcikova starts well in Dubai

Krejcikova was hoping to win her first Australian Open title this past January but it didn't happen as she suffered a straight-set loss to Madison Keys in the quarterfinal.

"I have been struggling with something. Yes, it was happening and I didn't feel good. I just don't want to talk about it because I think Madison, she really deserves the win and she really deserves to get the credit. That's how it is," Krejcikova claimed after the loss.

Krejcikova returned to action this Monday as she saw off Caroline Garcia 6-4 7-6 (0) to progress into the Dubai round-of-16. Krejcikova claimed the first break of the match in the fifth game and then held on to her serve the rest of the way to win the first set.

Krejcikova was twice up by a break in the second set but Garcia twice recovered to force a tie-break. Failing to serve out for the match in the 10th game didn't impact Krejcikova's focus as she dominated the tie-break to book a straight-set win. Krejcikova plays next either Irina Begu or Dayana Yastremska.