facebooktwittertelegramwhatsapp
copy short urlprintemail
+ A
A -
webmaster

Vinay Nayudu
Doha
On December 10, 2016, tennis star Petra Kvitova was badly injured when a man armed with a knife attacked her at her home in Prostejov, Czech Republic. The two-time Wimbledon champion sustained severe injuries to her left hand, which is her playing hand, and said that she was “fortunate to be alive”.
Kvitova suffered deep cuts to four fingers and had to undergo surgery to help repair the ligaments and tendons.
Since then life had been somewhat of a struggle, both off and on the court. But since the start of 2018, the 27-year-old Kvitova has been on a roll winning two tournaments including Qatar Total Open 2018 on Sunday.
The victory in the Premier 5 Doha tournament has also brought with it valuable ranking points and loads of confidence for the Czech.
On Monday, Kvitova was back in the top ten list of the newly released Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.
“It feels great. It feels much better right now because Top 10 is the number. Of course, it’s such a great achievement to be back there. But I never really was thinking about the numbers, but about the game and kind of results, which I have it now. So it’s a nice bonus,” the champion said soon after her triumph in Qatar.
“I couldn’t really dream about it one year ago when I was in a totally different position trying to come back and play. And like for me, it’s something that’s amazing. I couldn’t really wish for more. I played great tennis, St. Petersburg and here (Doha) as well. So that means a lot to me,” she added.
The pleasing player, however, still gets haunted by the scary past sometimes. “I still do have some flashbacks sometimes of the past and what’s happened. But it’s not that often as it used to be. So that’s a good thing for me mentally. About the hand, it’s good, but then it reminds me that often as well. I used to focus on the hand and see the scars, but I’m not doing that anymore. So then it’s better.”
Kvitova, who won the Wimbledon trophy twice, in 2011 and 2014, is now looking to excel again at the Grand Slams.
“I hope so, for sure. That’s why I came back, to try to have great results in the Grand Slams and the big tournaments, which one of these was here in Doha. So, I think, I showed myself that I’m able to play well in those big ones,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who lost in the Qatar Total Open semis to Kvitova, maintained the top spot for the fourth consecutive week in the WTA rankings, 45 points ahead of Romania’s former World No. 1 Simona Halep.
Despite losing to Kvitova in the Qatar Total Open final, Garbine Muguruza of Spain has climbed one place to No.3 at the expense of Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who has dropped to the fourth spot.
Kvitova’s win in Qatar saw her climb 11 places to break into the Top-10.
The current WTA rankings & point scores
1. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 8,010 points
2. Simona Halep (Romania) 7,965
3. Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 6,175
4. Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 5,910
5. Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 5,080
6. Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 5,000
7. Caroline Garcia (France) 4,625
8. Venus Williams (USA) 4,277
9. Angelique Kerber (Germany) 3,220
10. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 3,086.
copy short url   Copy
20/02/2018
903