Fed Cup: Petra Kvitova – The big comeback after the horror

Petra Kvitova will play against Germany in the Fed Cup final with the Czech Republic from Saturday (12 noon on DAZN). After the knife attack of a burglar, the double Wimbledon winner has made an unlikely comeback at the top of the world.

When Petra Kvitova thinks back to the winter day one and a half years ago, then the “horror” about the knife attack of a cold-blooded robber is still “totally present” in her apartment. Of course, says Kvitova, the 28-year-old world-class tennis player, “you can never completely forget that”. But the greater sensation is now another, namely happiness, the satisfaction of having overcome and also mastered these “worst moments” of their lives.

The two-time Wimbledon winner from the Czech Republic feels “stronger than ever” since she made an unlikely comeback at the top of the world for many observers. Recently, Kvitova even managed to return to the top ten elite after two consecutive tournament successes in St. Petersburg and Doha. “It’s still a small miracle for me,” says Kvitova, “it’s a great relief to be able to play tennis so well again.”

When Germany’s Fed Cup women compete in their first semi-final at home against the Czech Republic in the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart this weekend, Kvitova is also a main character in this pop duel. The tall, strong athlete has often proved to be a spoilsport for the Germans, also in the Fed Cup final three and a half years ago in Prague, Kvitova is something like Miss Fed Cup for the small, big tennis nation, which has won the competition three times in the last four years alone.

“We live and love these internationals, this special atmosphere, this team sport,” says Kvitova, who is currently ranked 10th in the world rankings. If the German women want to reach a final for the first time in two and a half decades, they must also and especially score against Kvitova. Against the woman whose career was almost and abruptly destroyed in a single day.

All five fingers on her left hand had been damaged and injured in the robbery in her hometown of Prostejov. Kvitova had resisted the intruder, but he had attacked her violently before he fled undetected. She must be happy afterwards, Kvitova says, “that I was not hurt much worse”.

After the robbery, after the assassination, Kvitova was certain: “If there is a chance to play tennis again, I will use it with all my strength”. She was also not irritated by the first, devastating predictions or by some advice to maybe stop playing tennis after all. “It was clear,” says Kvitova, “I didn’t want my life to be ruined by this man.

He shouldn’t have the last word on me.” Kvitova tackled her return with full determination, early on she kept her fingers movable again, grabbed objects. When she held a bat in her hand again, it was her right hand – and a table tennis bat. Tough and slowly it went up, despite all pain in the scars of the left hand, despite all swellings after light training sessions. “I’ve always been patient. I knew it would be a marathon, not a sprint,” says Kvitova.

And in the spring of last year she was back again, at the clay court festival in Paris, at the French Open. She wanted the comeback there, under the Eiffel Tower, to direct the hustle and bustle of Wimbledon, the scene of her greatest successes. She even won a round, but that didn’t really count.

“I made my biggest victory long before this first game,” says Kvitova, “I fought my way back and didn’t let it get me down.” But without her family and friends she would not have been able to do all this, “they helped me over all my fears and worries. I also know I’ve been very, very lucky.”

If Kvitova talks about her injury today, she also talks about her “new hand”: “I had to get used to liking her and trusting her. Still “not everything is as it used to be, the old agility is still missing, it will probably still take a few months until then”.

But all this does not prevent them from winning in the least, as it did in Doha this February, for example. She beat four top ten rivals in a row on the home stretch of the cup win competition, world number one Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) in the semi-finals and world number four Garbine Muguruza (Spain) in the finals.

Now the Fed Cup is waiting for Kvitova. She wants to win it again, win again after the fateful winter day in Prostejow one and a half years ago. After a cure, after a comeback about which Kvitova’s surgeon Radek Kebrle says: “The chances that Petra could play tennis again were very slim. The injuries were horrible.”