Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
While the media and tennis commentators have been fawning over Serena possibly winning slam #24 and many others have been desperately waiting for the male next gen to break through, people have not recognized the huge story of Petra Kvitova and what she has achieved and may have missed what I think is the tennis story of this decade (Sorry Roger, the 2017 Australian Open was massive and epic but Petra has been through hell and back).
Here's a bit of a summary first:
Petra burst onto the tennis scene 8 years back in 2011 winning Premier Brisbane, making the Aus Open QF, winning Premier Paris, winning Premier Mandatory Madrid, winning Wimbledon (becoming the first player born in the 1990s to win a slam (the men are still waiting by the way)), winning Linz and then finishing the year by winning the YEC on her debut and helping the Czech Republic by winning the Fed Cup. She finished the year #2 after starting the year as #34.
Fast forward a few years and Petra had made slam SF's at both the Australian Open and French Open, she'd won Wimbledon for a second time in 2014, won a Bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, won the Fed Cup a bajillion more times and won 12 more titles between the 2012 and end of the 2016 season.
Petra had a slow start to 2016 due to an illness but had a great back half of the season. She started the year #6 but due to the illness and poor results she dropped as low as #16 by August. That same month she won the Bronze medal at the Olympics with great wins over Wozniacki, Makarova, Svitolina and Keys. She backed that up with a SF showing at Premier Connecticut and a 4R showing at the USO losing to eventual champ Kerber. In late September Petra played lights out at the Premier 5 Wuhan tournament to win the title. Check out the players she beat to win that title: R1: Ostapenko, 2R: Svitolina, 3R: #1 Kerber, QF: #11 Konta, SF: #4 Halep and then beat #10 Cibulkova in the final. She made the QF in Beijing, the final in Luxembourg and then won the Elite Trophy and finished the year #11 and was very close to get back into the top 10.
Then in the off season, Petra was at home in the Czech Republic when she was attacked by a knife wielding intruder who held a knife to her throat, she managed to fight back with her dominant hand (Petra's a lefty) the attacker then almost severed her index finger, sliced most of her fingers and two of her nerves. This was a photo of the damage and I will say it's not for the faint hearted.
Initially she was meant to be out of the game for 6 months but many wondered what sort of level she would have considering her playing hand was the one that got hurt and she couldn't bear weight for three months let alone use a racket. She made a return at the French Open in the 2017 and made the 2R. She then surprised everyone by winning her next tournament which was the Premier Birmingham tournament. She struggled for a bit after this but has had some excellent results since then. She won the most tour titles in 2018 (six) but was never able to back it up at slam, until now.
So here's to Petra who's into the Australian Open final, just 25 months after going through absolute hell, the knife was held to her throat but Petra managed to fight the attacker off with her which unfortunately left several of her fingers getting sliced open. But here she is, in a slam final. Just over 2 years since the awful incident. The WTA fan favourite who is universally loved is truly something special . I'll definitely be cheering for her in the final and will be ready for an emotional ceremony if she does win. Hope many here will tune in as well.
Here's a bit of a summary first:
Petra burst onto the tennis scene 8 years back in 2011 winning Premier Brisbane, making the Aus Open QF, winning Premier Paris, winning Premier Mandatory Madrid, winning Wimbledon (becoming the first player born in the 1990s to win a slam (the men are still waiting by the way)), winning Linz and then finishing the year by winning the YEC on her debut and helping the Czech Republic by winning the Fed Cup. She finished the year #2 after starting the year as #34.
Fast forward a few years and Petra had made slam SF's at both the Australian Open and French Open, she'd won Wimbledon for a second time in 2014, won a Bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, won the Fed Cup a bajillion more times and won 12 more titles between the 2012 and end of the 2016 season.
Petra had a slow start to 2016 due to an illness but had a great back half of the season. She started the year #6 but due to the illness and poor results she dropped as low as #16 by August. That same month she won the Bronze medal at the Olympics with great wins over Wozniacki, Makarova, Svitolina and Keys. She backed that up with a SF showing at Premier Connecticut and a 4R showing at the USO losing to eventual champ Kerber. In late September Petra played lights out at the Premier 5 Wuhan tournament to win the title. Check out the players she beat to win that title: R1: Ostapenko, 2R: Svitolina, 3R: #1 Kerber, QF: #11 Konta, SF: #4 Halep and then beat #10 Cibulkova in the final. She made the QF in Beijing, the final in Luxembourg and then won the Elite Trophy and finished the year #11 and was very close to get back into the top 10.
Then in the off season, Petra was at home in the Czech Republic when she was attacked by a knife wielding intruder who held a knife to her throat, she managed to fight back with her dominant hand (Petra's a lefty) the attacker then almost severed her index finger, sliced most of her fingers and two of her nerves. This was a photo of the damage and I will say it's not for the faint hearted.
So here's to Petra who's into the Australian Open final, just 25 months after going through absolute hell, the knife was held to her throat but Petra managed to fight the attacker off with her which unfortunately left several of her fingers getting sliced open. But here she is, in a slam final. Just over 2 years since the awful incident. The WTA fan favourite who is universally loved is truly something special . I'll definitely be cheering for her in the final and will be ready for an emotional ceremony if she does win. Hope many here will tune in as well.
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