It was far from the ending Petra Kvitová would have wanted. Perhaps it would have been better for her to have bid farewell to tennis in July after a loss to Emma Navarro on Court One at Wimbledon. Especially since Wimbledon is the tournament she will be remembered for over any other. However, a 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Diane Parry on the Grandstand court in the first round of the US Open would prove to be the final professional outing for the now 35-year-old Czech.
Kvitová’s professional career began in 2006 and would prove to be exceptional. The highlights were two Wimbledon singles titles, a career high ranking of 2 (just a victory away from the top spot in 2019), 31 WTA Tour singles titles (from only 42 finals) and six title triumphs with the Czech Republic team in the Fed Cup, now the Billie Jean King Cup, for an impressive 30-11 singles record.
She also teamed with Tomas Berdych to win the 2012 Hopman Cup for the Czech Republic, and is an Olympic singles bronze medallist from 2016 Rio.
Photo: Peter Staples
Born in Bilovec, Czechoslovakia, in March 1990, she was introduced to tennis by her father and unsurprisingly idolised another Czech left hander, Martina Navratilova. The tall left-handed Kvitová played tennis daringly from the baseline, striking hard to all corners of the court from both sides.
Her first singles title was won in Hobart in 2009 and her last was in Berlin in 2023. She won career titles on three different surfaces – hardcourt, clay and grass.
Kvitová’s first Wimbledon triumph was achieved after a magnetic 6-4, 6-3 victory over Maria Sharapova in 2011. Three years later at the All England Club, she played a near flawless final against Eugenie Bouchard, cruising to a 6-3, 6-0 win in the tournament decider. Both triumphs were achieved under the guidance of her most long-standing coach David Kotyza.
Her life took a tumultuous turn in December 2016 when she was randomly attacked by a knife wielding intruder at home in the Czech Republic. The assailant was ultimately sent to jail. For Kvitova, surgery on her left hand was necessary for wounds suffered in the attack.
Incredibly, she recovered physically and mentally from the attack to return to the WTA Tour at Roland Garros in May 2017, five months later. Perhaps even more incredibly, she won the singles titles at Birmingham just a month after her return.
A stellar 2018 season saw Kvitová win a WTA Tour leading five singles titles. She would make a tremendous run to the final at the 2019 Australian Open only losing an epic championship match to Naomi Osaka 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-4, after saving three championship points in the second set. A win would have delivered Kvitová the world No. 1 ranking but it was not to be. Instead, Osaka claimed the top ranking.
Kvitová announced at the start of 2024 that she was pregnant. She and her husband Jiri Vanek, a former ATP Tour player and her coach at the time, welcomed a son, Petr, in the European summer of 2024. At the time of the pregnancy, Kvitova never ruled out a return to tennis and made her final comeback to the WTA Tour in February of this year at Austin, USA, after a 17 month absence from the circuit.
Admired by fans for her friendly demeanour and grace, Kvitová was the recipient of the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award a record eight times. This award is voted on by fellow players on the WTA Tour and recognises Karen Krantzcke, an Australian touring professional who, at the age of 31, tragically died of a heart attack while jogging in 1977.
Kvitová told the media after her retirement at the US Open that she was content to finish her career.
“I’m very proud of how I handled the pressure, how many times I have been in the Top 10 (eight times at year end),” Kvitová said in her final post-match press conference. “It was very, very special for me… I (have) never been World No. 1… but I still think those two Grand Slam wins (are) above the World No. 1. So that’s how I take it…
“Yeah, I’m proud of many, many things.”
Title photo of Petra Kvitová at her press conference after winning Wimbledon in 2011 by Neil Tingle