Petra: No fear after stabbing
PETRA KVITOVA has warned her rivals that she is playing without fear after returning from the brutal attack in her home in December.
The Czech Republic star, 27, a two-time Wimbledon champion, was stabbed when a man broke into her apartment in Prostejov.
A knife was held to her throat in a vicious attempted burglary and as she fought off the assailant she received a serious injury to a hand.
Seven months on she has recovered sufficiently to be back on court. And while she was obviously thrilled to win in Birmingham last week, she now sees tennis in perspective.
Kvitova said: “I feel a bit fearless and I’m not sure if it is a result of what happened, but maybe it is.
“I found out what is important and what is not.
“Sometimes I’m thinking on the court that I already won the biggest fight and it doesn’t matter if I win the last point or lose it.
“I’m definitely a little bit different on the court and off the court too. I see life and tennis from a little bit of a different angle than before.
“Before I was very nervous before every tennis match. Now I see that I shouldn’t be.
“There are more important things than just tennis. On the other hand, I found out how much I loved this sport.”
Kvitova and fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova have had a great build-up to Wimbledon.
Kvitova added: “I won at Birmingham, Karolina won at Eastbourne – who knows who’s going to win here?”
And Kvitova, who described Wimbledon as a “second home”, can expect even more love than usual when she faces Swede Johanna Larsson tomorrow.
She added: “I didn’t think about Wimbledon while I was out but about the end of March, I took the racket for the first time in my hand, and I was starting to think I would love to be back at Wimbledon. It was my motivation.”