Desirae Krawczyk helps Orange Country Breakers win World TeamTennis title, ends dream season

Desirae Krawczyk’s dream season concluded Sunday at her hometown venue with the Coachella Valley native holding another trophy.

In the final of the 2021 World TeamTennis season, Krawczyk and her Orange County Breakers teammates survived a late rally to defeat the Springfield Lasers, 21-13, inside Stadium 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The final was televised nationally on Tennis Channel.

“It’s definitely cool,” said Krawczyk, 27, who won three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles this year. “We had a lot of people out here, had some family and high school friends who’ve followed my career, so it was great to have them here.”

Unlike last year’s final, which the New York Empire narrowly won in a super tiebreaker over the Chicago Smash, this year’s final wasn’t close.

But there was some drama toward the end. Krawczyk and mixed doubles partner Austin Krajicek lost their set, 5-1, after Krawczyk had sat for the first three sets, which included men's singles and doubles and woman's singles. That gave the Lasers a shot to win the final set and force extended play for a chance to win.

Following a three-game win streak in women’s doubles, though, Krawczyk and teammate Tatjana Maria of Germany held off Asia Muhammed and Giuliana Olmos, 5-3, in front of a crowd of more than 300. Krawczyk served out the final point that secured the win.

“Des was a little nervous, I think, in the mixed doubles,” league MVP Steve Johnson said. “But then, in the doubles, she played amazing. It’s definitely nerve-racking when you have a lot of friends and family in the crowd and you sit for an hour and a half. But she’s a stud and I couldn’t be happier for her.”

Johnson, an American who played collegiately at USC, defeated Denis Kudla, 5-2, in men’s singles and Maria beat Muhammed, 5-2, in the five-set format with each game counting toward the final score. Johnson and Krajicek were victorious over Kudla and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador, 5-1.

Following a 31-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual event was the second professional tennis championship to be played at Indian Wells in as many months, following last month’s BNP Paribas Open.

At the BNP in October, Krawczyk won a match with doubles partner Alexa Guarachi before they fell in the second round.

Krawczyk began the year without a breakthrough tournament title to her name. She eventually held up mixed doubles championship trophies at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and then the U.S. Open — becoming the second woman to win three majors in mixed doubles in a single season since Martina Navratilova did it 37 years ago.

“It’s still sort of hard to believe,” Krawzczyk said.

The success of her women’s doubles play propelled Krawczyk to the WTA Tour finals in Guadalajara, Mexico, this month, where she and Guarachi competed against the top-ranked doubles teams in the world. They won one of three matches.

She arrived at World TeamTennis for the final week, replacing Amanda Anisimova on the Breakers’ roster. She adjusted to the format well and the Breakers won four of their last five matches with her in the lineup.

Much of that credit goes to Johnson and Maria, who won all of their singles sets during that stretch.

“Des brought that expertise in doubles,” Johnson said, “and then Tatjana played great in singles. I don’t know how many women’s singles sets we lost in the 13 matches we played. Maybe one. Maybe two. That’s pretty amazing.”

After splitting the first two games against Denis Kudla, Johnson went up a break in the fifth game. Kudla couldn’t seem to handle Johnson’s blazing backhand. Johnson then held serve in the sixth game and closed out the set, 5-2, with his second break point.

Maria went up a break in the fourth game of their set, using primarily a slice and forehand, then won the fifth game of the set with her serve. Muhammed held serve in the sixth game before Maria closed out the set, 5-2.

In men’s doubles, Johnson and teammate Austin Krajicek rallied to put Orange County up a break in the third game and held serve to go up 3-1. The Breakers went up another break in the fifth game and Johnson served to close out the set with a 5-1 win.

In women’s doubles, the Lasers had a chance to win the set and force extended play for the win but Krawczyk served out the match and ended the season by raising another trophy.

Following a season she said she couldn’t dream up, Krawczyk said she’ll enjoy this for a short time before heading to Arizona next week to begin training for 2022.

“It’s been a great experience to play here,” Krawczyk said. “It’s nice to come here, to come home and to finish out the year with a win. Perfect end to the year.”

Andrew John covers sports for The Desert Sun and the USA Today Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com and find him on Twitter at @Andrew_L_John.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Orange Country Breakers claim World TeamTennis title