New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Comeback queen Petra Kvitova learns she’s a fighter, on and off the court
Petra Kvitova breaks into a laugh when asked about her favorite New Haven memory. Not a mocking laugh, mind you. She has been selected as the winner of the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award by her WTA peers six of the past seven years. The two-time Wimbledon champion is known as much for her graciousness as for her stinging forehand.
Kvitova doesn’t do mocking. Sardonic is not in her hardcourt arsenal. It’s just when you’ve won the Connecticut Open three times and been to the finals a fourth against No. 1 player in the world Simona Halep, well …
“Obviously, all those victories,” the 28-year-old Czech said. “It’s more than one New Haven memory.
“It is a special place for me. It’s a quiet place, but I’ve always gotten so much support. We have a great week of play before New York. It’s very calming for me. We have time to work on everything. For me, it has always been a great preparation for the U.S. Open.”
There was a WTA event in London in late June. This was after the bookmakers had made the world’s No. 8-ranked player the favorite to win Wimbledon and before she was ousted in the first round by Aliaksandra Sasnovich. In the midst of a remarkable year of a tennis renaissance, Kvitova would have a chance to hug Monica Seles. It was their first meeting.
“Monica had asked the WTA if she could meet me, she introduced herself and I have to say this was very, very great,” Kvitova said. “It was beautiful. She has been through a similar thing. She had a difficult comeback, a great comeback. She has been through the worst.
“When I returned to tennis, she was an inspiration for me. To meet Monica, to be next to her for a picture, it was great.”
New Haven, Wimbledon, Flushing Meadows — there isn’t enough money in the world to buy life’s greatest memories. Nor is there enough money to rid life’s worst. Kvitova and Seles share a bond, a burden, no athletes should share. They know the horrific pain of an assailant’s knife blade.
A deranged fan of Steffi Graf leaned over during a changeover break at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, in 1993 and stabbed Seles in the shoulder. She was the No. 1 player in the world and would be robbed of more than two years of her career. In December 2016, an intruder entered Kvitova’s apartment in Prostejov, Czech Republic. He held a knife to her throat. Kvitova fought him off, but the blade sliced all the fingers of her dominant left hand. Her index finger, as evidenced in a photo accompanying a remarkable piece this spring by Bonnie D. Ford of ESPN, was slashed to the bone and dangling.
“All we could do was be there for her and believe the way Petra believed,” said Katie Spellman, who handles public relations for both Kvitova and the Connecticut Open. “Despite how horrific it looked, she was still given this small chance she could come back to a top level and just hung on to that chance. She would not let the physical scars deter her.
“Tennis is the reason why Petra recovered as quickly as she did. The first question she asked her surgeon after it happened was, ‘Can I play Wimbledon?’ She never felt sorry for herself. The surgeon (Czech Radek Kebrle) was astounded by her strength and motivation.”
Incisions, dissolving sutures, pins, intricate surgery to move yet not rupture tendons, so careful not to leave Kvitova with a lifetime of numbness; Kebrle was a master. He also told Ford, “I was afraid of my own ass because at the end if she does not come back, everybody will connect me: I was the one who finished the career of Petra Kvitova.”
Kebrle didn’t finish Kvitova’s career. Remarkably, not only did she make it back to Wimbledon in 2017, she made it to the French Open a month earlier. The professional tennis world is a fiercely competitive one, yet it is scant exaggeration to say everyone in the sport was pulling for her. Kvitova says it’s important to her to treat the game with respect, to
treat everyone with respect. Spellman calls Kvitova a tennis purist, a true pro.
“The umpires, everyone who comes into contact with her likes her,” Spellman said. “She has a very down-toearth, happy nature. Although she’s kind of shy, not necessarily the biggest socializer out there, she’ll smile, engages with players, have her chats. She’s a good friend. When the attack happened, you saw how the tennis family came together. And when she came back for her first match at Roland Garros all the players gathered around watching, pulling for her. She was really touched.”
Once given only a 10 percent chance to return to an elite form, Kvitova is 100 percent sure of one matter: The hand will never be 100 percent. Every little nuance that goes to guiding and powering a tennis swing will never be perfect. None of this has stopped her from winning a WTA-leading five tournaments in 2018: St. Petersburg, Qatar, Prague, Madrid, a successful defense in Birmingham. Outside of the majors, nobody has played better. She lost in the first round in Australia, the third in Paris, and after Wimbledon joked that maybe she’ll skip the majors for a while.
“When I was younger, I played better in the Grand Slams,” Kvitova said. “I have those great experiences at Wimbledon. Maybe, now, I want it too much. That’s probably how it is. I’ve got to try to be more relaxed, but it is tough before the big ones. I think everyone is feeling nerves.
“Obviously, I feel like I’ve had a great season so far. People were talking about me being the favorite at Wimbledon, but they made me favorite last year right after I came back. I take that part of it very easy. On the other hand, it was a disappointment. Still, the next day after the match, the sun came out. I’m always telling myself it’s great to be back on the Tour, to be back on the court. At the end of the day I’m very appreciative just to be able to play and have all my fingers.”
Kvitova took a break after Wimbledon. But she entered the Rogers Cup in Montreal, the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and New Haven leading into the U.S. Open, where she had a nice run to the quarters last year.
Spellman said she’s not a big fan of New York’s hustle and bustle, and the longer she has stayed in New Haven ahead of the U.S. Open, the more relaxed she felt. She knows the city. She goes to Claire’s Corner Copia to grab a morning smoothie. She has her favorite restaurant.
“Petra’s had one of her best starts ever this year,” Spellman said. “I think she realizes now that tennis is important but not the most important thing in life. Mentally she has made that change and it has allowed her to play with a freedom that’s so difficult to find when you’re a top pro and there are people trying to beat you every week. She didn’t play with that freedom at Wimbledon this year. She freely admits that’s when she wants it too much. There’s such a fine line of wanting it badly, and wanting it too much. She crossed that line at Wimbledon.
“She is very calm by nature, she’ll tell you she gets that from her mom. She likes to keep it quiet around her, that’s how she operates best. It’s definitely a personality thing. I know she feels a sense of calm when she comes to New Haven.”
And Petra Kvitova knows this.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself the last year and a half,” she said. “I always felt I was a fighter on the court. I now know what a fighter I am off the court, too. It was such a different fight compared to a tennis match. I know now I have something special inside me.”