Kvitova: ‘If you know me, I’m strong and I will fight this’

ROGER Federer and Tiger Woods are raring to return to action this year. Include Petra Kvitova. Federer, the record 17-time Grand Slam champion, is set to see action in the Australian Open in Melbourne this month after a six-month absence.

He last played in July, when he lost a nerve-wracking five-setter to Canadian Milos Raonic in the 2016 Wimbledon semifinals.

A sorry sight saw Federer, 35, tumble on the grass, reviving the gnawing pain of a knee surgery he’s had in February.

And then Woods. Well, he has not played competitive golf for 16 months until he made a one-tournament appearance late this year.

He stunned the field with a 66 in the middle rounds—but the rebellion was short-lived, collapsing cruelly in the endgame.

The 14-time majors champion—four short of Jack Nicklaus’ all-time best of 18—has tabled tournaments leading up to the Masters in April, which he had won several times after his breakthrough victory in 1997.

Turning 40 only last December 30, not a few still consider Woods a force to reckon with. And, rightly so. Nicklaus won his 18th major when he ruled the Masters in 1986—at age 46.

No less than Nicklaus himself had predicted that if there’s one golfer who is capable of surpassing him, “that’d only be Tiger Woods.” He said that in 1997.

Well, while Federer and Woods are just too eager to take the plunge anew, Kvitova is ruing the fact that she’d merely be a spectator—obviously for at least the first six months of the year.

She’s recovering from a knife injury inflicted by an intruder at her Prostejov home in December in Prague, Czech Republic.

Shades of Monica Seles getting stabbed in the back during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg in 1993? She recovered, returned to action after 27 months and reached the 1995 US Open final.

Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion in 2011 and 2014, is recuperating after a four-hour surgery on her left hand—her “tennis” hand.

“She’s young and healthy and has long, slim fingers,” said surgeon Radek Kebrie. “That’s a good prognosis.”

And Kvitova is undaunted, saying: “If you know anything about me I am strong and I will fight this.”

Her attacker is still at large.