Just by playing in Paris, Kvitova has already won
PARIS — Only two months after picking up her racket for the first time following a knife attack at her home, Petra Kvitova will be playing at the French Open.
“I knew this day would come,” Kvitova, who was attacked by an intruder last year, said Friday. “I’m really happy that really here, the dream comes true.”
Kvitova has missed all season while recovering from surgery on her racket-holding left hand. She suffered damage to the tendons in her left hand, along with injuries to all five fingers and two nerves, during the attack in December.
Doctors initially thought she would need more time before returning to tennis. But Kvitova’s recovery was faster than expected.
“It wasn’t easy, but I’m happy that I work through this and I can play tennis and I can be in the draw,” she said.
Kvitova, who won the Wimbledon title in 2011 and 2014 and climbed as high as No. 2 in the WTA rankings, was not allowed to speak about the attack itself because a police investigation is still ongoing. She spoke about the anxiety associated with her dreadful experience.
“I didn’t sleep well the days after, but I wasn’t really staying alone,” she said. “From the beginning I was really feeling really weird when I went in the city or somewhere. I was always staring to the guys and looking if there are no strangers there. But with the time, it’s better.”
Kvitova also provided details on the intense rehabilitation process.
“I worked very hard behind the scenes,” she said. “From the beginning I had this hand in a splint for two months, and even then I was practicing every day, always putting the splint away and trying to make this scar softer. So from the second day after surgery I started to work
with that, which was kind of easy, just passive work with the fingers. I couldn’t move them.”
Kvitova shed the splint after two weeks and started to move her fingers slightly. She said she still can’t move them completely. Kvitova consulted with a hand specialist in Grenoble, France, every month, and she started practicing with a racket at the end of March.
“Everything seems OK,” she said. “Of course, the hand doesn’t have that power and the strength yet, but I’m working on it. Hopefully one day will be everything perfect.”
Kvitova will open against 86th-ranked Julia Boserup. Kvitova is making her ninth appearance at Roland Garros, reaching the semifinals in 2012.
“I actually already won my biggest fight,” Kvitova said. “I stayed in life and I have all my fingers.”