Tennis ace ‘lucky to be alive’
Wimbledon star Kvitova injured after suffering knife attack in home
TWO-TIME Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has said she is lucky to be alive after she was injured by a knife-wielding attacker at her home.
The tennis star said the injury to her left hand is “severe”.
A manhunt has been launched for her attacker, described as a man in his mid-30s, after the incident at the sportswoman’s house in the Czech Republic.
Kvitova wrote on Twitter: “In my attempt to defend myself, I was badly injured on my left hand. I am shaken, but fortunate to be alive.”
The 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion, who is left-handed, added: “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.”
Reports said she allowed someone posing as a utilities man access to her apartment and while defending herself in a struggle, suffered the injuries to her hand.
The intruder is believed to have then run away.
She suffered damage to ligaments and tendons in her left hand, and was undergoing surgery yesterday.
“What happened to me was certainly not pleasant, but it’s behind me,” Kvitova said in an earlier statement on the Facebook page of the Czech Republic’s Fed Cup team.
“I have the best possible care and I’m in touch with my loved ones. The worst is behind me.”
Kvitova’s spokesman, Karel Tejkal, said the incident, which he described as a burglary, occurred yesterday morning in the eastern town of Prostejov. He said: “It was a random crime, nobody was going to attack or rob her as Petra Kvitova.”
Prostejov police spokesman Frantisek Korinek said the attacker, a man aged about 35, escaped from the scene and is at large.
Kvitova was scheduled to participate in a charity event in the city of Brno yesterday with another Czech player, Lucie Safarova.
“It’s horrible,” Safarova told Czech public radio. “Things like that are shocking to all of us. It can happen to any one of us. That’s really terrible.”
In April 1993, tennis star Monica Seles was at the height of her success when she was stabbed in the back during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg.
A man reached over a courtside railing and knifed her, leaving an inch-deep slit between her shoulder blades.
Seles returned to the game 27 months later and reached the 1995 US Open final.
In an unrelated move earlier on Tuesday, Kvitova withdrew from the Czech Republic team at next month’s Hopman Cup mixed-team tennis tournament because of an earlier foot injury.
Kvitova is ranked 11th in the world and has won a career total of 19 titles.