It would be tempting for Petra Kvitova to dwell on what might have been as she prepares for what will be her last tournament before she retires from tennis. For all her many achievements – she won two Wimbledon titles, 31 tournaments worldwide and reached world No 2 – there has long been a feeling that she could, maybe should, have won even more. Martina Navratilova, her fellow Czech who won Wimbledon a record nine times, said she felt Kvitova could go on to win it five times. But like Rafael Nadal, who always found a way to put things in perspective, Kvitova heads into retirement content that she has given absolutely everything she had.
“It’s my personality, probably, that I didn’t win more,” Kvitova, 35, says on the eve of the US Open. “I think I had a talent. Maybe I could work a little bit more, but then, on the other hand, I think maybe it will kill my talent or my mentality.
“I think I could [have won more]. But what can I do? I played in the final of the Australian Open [in 2019], I lost to Naomi Osaka when she played incredibly in the third set. There are always a few question marks in the number of grand slams. Being world No 1, that’s what I’m missing. Probably that’s the thing I would love to have. But if it’s not happened, it’s not happened. It would not give me a better life or make me happier.”
Given what Kvitova went through in the middle of her career, it’s an impressive sentiment. The champion at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, the left-hander was ranked No 11 when, in the off-season at the end of 2016, she suffered a horrific knife attack from an intruder in her own home. She needed extensive surgery on her left hand and her doctors gave her only a 10% chance of playing again. But not only did she come back within six months, she went on to win 12 more titles and reached a career-high ranking of No 2, within a sniff of the top ranking.
It required an inner strength she didn’t know she possessed. “I knew I was a big fighter on the court but at that time I realised how I am an even bigger fighter in a totally different version of myself,” she says. “That was great, even though it was very tough to play tennis. I cried on the court, I had really bad flashbacks, I was having nightmares. So it really wasn’t easy. It took a while, but it’s all good now. There was a big question mark, can I play tennis or not? And I could. It was my second career. It was amazing.”
Married to her coach, the former player, Jiri Vanek, Kvitova gave birth to her first child, son Petr, in July 2024. She returned to the Tour only seven months later but struggled physically, winning one of her nine matches. “I’m ready to stop,” she says, and adds that she would like to have another child in due course. “Mentally, I think I can’t do it any more, as well as emotionally and physically.
“You still remember how you played before, how everything was smooth and I was hitting winners and suddenly it’s not there.
“I’m totally ready [to retire]. I’m not regretting anything. I still love tennis but everything else, waiting for the practices, waiting for the car, waiting for a match, it’s just tiring. And having a son, it’s a totally different life. I just want to spend more time with him as well.”
With a big serve and crushing groundstrokes, Kvitova was one of the purest ball-strikers of her generation. At her best, she was almost unbeatable, going 31-11 in finals and winning at least one WTA Tour title every year from 2011 to 2019. Her performance in the 2014 Wimbledon final, when she blitzed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada 6-3, 6-0 in 55 minutes, is regarded as one of the best of all time. Not surprisingly, that’s one of her proudest moments. “It’s totally different to win it for the second time than for the first time,” Kvitova says. “If you know how it feels for the first time, you just want to win it. It’s nothing, nothing more. You just know that winning feeling. That was probably the best memory.”
There were many other highs, not least her six Fed Cup titles with the Czech Republic. She won the WTA Finals on her debut in 2011, won the bronze medal at the Olympics in 2016 and, in 2023, she surprised everyone by winning the Miami Open at the age of 33. “That’s one I was very proud of,” she says. “I didn’t play the best before, I wasn’t really confident at all, I was getting tired and old, and this happened. Very proud of that.”
Looking back, she rues her loss to Kirsten Flipkens in the quarter-final at Wimbledon in 2013 – “I remember I was sick” – but if there is one match she would like back, above all, it would be that Australian Open final when she was edged out by Osaka.
“That was the most painful match of my career, it was terrible,” she admits. “On the other hand, after what happened to me, I would have signed everything to be in the final over there and have a chance to play against the best and be competitive with them. There was maybe one game, I do remember one return, which was a little bit long, that maybe could change everything. I had a break point. But overall, I don’t know what I could change. I think Naomi was just a little bit better. That’s it.”
