All Eyes On Petra

In 2011, Petra Kvitova turned 21, got rid of her braces, and won Wimbledon. That would constitute a big year for any young pro tennis player, but Kvitova did even more: She won a total of six titles, including the WTA Championships, she lifted trophies on every surface, and she put together an outstanding 21-0 record on indoor hard courts. The tall, lefty Czech also led her team to the 2011 Fed Cup championship, in which she compiled a 6-0 record.

Even though this was definitely a breakthrough season for Kvitova, her potential has been on display for a while. In 2009, she won the Moorilla Hobart International, defeating countrywoman Iveta Benesova in the final. When she took Dinara Safina out of the third round of the U.S. Open, the Czech’s raw talent was impressive. She swung and swung at the ball, perhaps not always with enough thought, but certainly with enough aggression and power. Later in 2009, Kvitova reached the final in Linz, a tournament she went on to win this year.

In 2010, Kvitova, who had never won a match on grass, reached the semifinal of Wimbledon, but then revealed her uncertainty about playing “the Serena,” a broken-English reference to playing Serena Williams in her upcoming match. Williams defeated her in straight sets, and went on to win the tournament, but by this time, Petra Kvitova was getting noticed by both fans and sports media alike. She would go on to get the WTA’s Newcomer of the Year award, and finish the season as No. 34 in the world.

There were problems, to be sure. For a while, Kvitova became very thin, and didn’t appear as fit as she probably needed to be. And the “hit first, think later” strategy continued, making the 20-year-old Czech stand out as much for her erratic performances as for her talent. Those of us who had been watching her since her Fed Cup debut in 2007, waited patiently for her to mature into a fierce competitor.

By 2011, our expectations were rewarded, and then some. Coached by David Kotyza, the 6′ tall, left-handed Kvitova showed up looking fit, showing off a new gift for utilizing strategy. She won the championship in Brisbane, but then lost to Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Her ranking rose to No. 18, however, and she won her second title of the year at the Paris indoor event, where she defeated Kim Clijsters in the final.

Kvitova went on to win her first premier event in Madrid. With a good record on hard courts, indoors, and on clay, the new Czech star was now approaching what many thought to be her prime surface—grass. Like her childhood idol, Martina Navratilova, Kvitova is at home with the speed of grass courts. She lost the Eastbourne final to Marion Bartoli, but by the time she arrived at Wimbledon, she was an unstoppable force. Kvitova hit 222 winners on her way to claiming the Venus Rosewater dish. She also beat the 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova in the final, and struck her only ace of the match on match point.

Kvitova would then fade for a while. She went out in the first round of the U.S. Open, and performed poorly in the semifinals in Tokyo, dramatically emphasizing her reputation as a streaky, erratic player. But then she won the championship in Linz, and followed that by winning the WTA Championships in Istanbul. Kvitova went 3-0 in the round robin portion of play, then defeated U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur in the semifinals, and Victoria Azarenka in the final.

The new world No. 2 continues to struggle with anxiety during matches, and she has a tendency to “go off” now and then. But, unlike some of her peers, Kvitova comes back—in the next game, the next match, or even in the next tournament. Known for her tricky left-handed serve and her huge groundstrokes on both sides, Kvitova has added a lot of touch to her game, and now—like her idol, Navratilova—she’s frequently rushing the net.

As 2011′s hottest player becomes more skilled and more comfortable in her new role, Kvitova will also become more feared by her opponents. The woman who told the BBC “I’m nothing special” is well on her way to becoming something very special indeed.

–

Diane Elayne Dees publishes Women Who Serve, a blog about women’s professional tennis. Diane is a life-long fan of women’s tennis; her interest in the sport began when she first saw Evonne Goolagong play. Diane attends the Family Circle Cup in Charleston every year, and has a fondness for clay court tennis, which she developed while following the career of the great Chris Evert.