FOREHAND SLICE IN HOME ROB
Tennis star cut badly by burglar
A two-time Wimbledon champ had four fingers nearly hacked off when a knife-wielding robber attacked her in her apartment in the Czech Republic on Tuesday, reports said.
Petra Kvitova — who won Wimbledon women’s singles titles in 2011 and 2014 and is the 11th-ranked female tennis player in the world — got into a life-ordeath struggle with her attacker in her bathroom after he posed as a utility worker to gain access to her home in the eastern town of Prostejov, the BBC reported.
During the early-morning attack, the man put a knife to the athlete’s throat and slashed at her left hand, which she uses for her powerful strokes on the court.
She suffered deep cuts to four of her fingers and severely torn ligaments.
Kvitova, 26, eventually broke free, and the thief grabbed $191 and fled, according to sport.cz. He is still at large.
She was rushed to a doctor and underwent five hours of surgery to try to repair the damage to her hand. It was not known if she would make a full recovery.
On her Facebook page, Kvitova said, “Today I was attacked in my apartment by an individual with a knife. In my attempt to defend myself, I was badly injured on my left hand.
“I am shaken but fortunate to be alive. The injury is severe, and I will need to see specialists, but if you know anything about me, I am strong, and I will fight this.”
Kvitova had already withdrawn from the Czech Republic team’s scheduled appearance at next month’s Hopman Cup because of a previous foot injury, Britain’s Guardian said.
“I am so disappointed that I cannot play at the @hopmancup,” she tweeted early Tuesday before the attack.
“The results of an MRI have confirmed that my foot is healing, but not as quickly as we would have liked. The Hopman Cup is a fantastic event, and I’m sorry I won’t be able to represent my country there.”
The tennis star has been a toptier player since 2011, reaching No. 2 in the world that same year.
In early 2016, she dropped in the rankings but recently returned to form, winning the Wuhan Open title in October and the WTA Elite trophy in November.
Tennis great Monica Seles was the target of a knife attack in 1993, and it put her out of commission for two years.
The April 30 attack took place courtside during a break in Seles’ quarterfinal match at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany.