An attacker who stabbed two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a Czech regional court.
CTK news agency made the claim on Tuesday following the attack over two years ago that kept her out of tennis action for six months.
Kvitova suffered severe wounds to her left hand as she struggled with the intruder in her flat during the attack in December 2016.
She returned to professional tennis in May 2017, crowning her comeback 18 months later with her first final appearance at 2019 Australian Open.
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Kvitova has previously said her emotional victory at the Aegon Classic in 2017 was a “fairytale” just six months after the career-threatening stabbing at her home.
But in only her second comeback event in Birmingham, the Czech left-hander fired down 13 aces to beat Aussie Ashleigh Barty 4-6 6-3 6-2.
“It was an amazing week, an amazing tournament,” she said. “I didn’t expect this in my second tournament after my comeback. I think it’s kind of a fairytale.
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“This win definitely means more. I’ve been through a very difficult time in my life, and it wasn’t about the tennis, but about to come back healthy and alive and move my fingers properly and everything like that.
“And this is something clearly special. Sometimes people get stronger when anything bad happens.
“I got a little bit emotional the last game of my service game in the match. But it was just for a while and I’m happy that it came because it means a lot that I’m still able to play well after that.”
