It is hard to think of a more reluctant grand slam champion than Petra Kvitova. With her wicked lefty serve, powerful, flat groundstrokes and a more than decent net game the Czech has the perfect game for grass, as two Wimbledon titles in the past five years would suggest. By the time she has finished playing, she could have four or five and yet the 25-year-old knows that, when she opens the defence of her Wimbledon title against Kiki Bertens of Holland on Tuesday, the nerves will hit again.
“I don’t think I’m going to enjoy it,” she said, the kind of honest answer few of her rivals would dare to let slip. “It’s really tough. I’m going to try to put less pressure on myself but I know how easy it is to say that, rather than to feel it, but that’s how it is. I think it’s nice that I am defending something. It’s a positive from last year. I’m really looking forward to stepping on to the Centre Court again.
“I’m the defending champion, so there are going to be a lot of nerves out there of course. I have been in this situation before, in 2012, and I know how tough it is. That year I didn’t really feel well. I didn’t really feel comfortable on the court. I didn’t really feel the ball right on the grass. I lost in Eastbourne first round so that wasn’t nice. It’s probably better that I’m not playing at all this year, so I don’t really have any bad feelings. I know how it is but I am expecting to still be nervous.”
Kvitova is talking at Eastbourne, which she pulled out of because of illness. It is typical of the world No2 that she should still go ahead with her interview commitments, regardless of how she feels. The virus that left her with a cold and sore throat in Eastbourne, where she was the defending champion, should be well out of her system by Tuesday and she was back at the All England Club practising a couple of days later. But in a year when she decided to take two months away from the Tour due to mental exhaustion, taking a risk before her favourite tournament is not an option.
“I had a few practices [in Eastbourne] and it was OK so I don’t really have problems if I’m not playing for a few days,” she said. “Sometimes it helps me that I am going to rest a bit more, then I can put everything into the matches. Of course on the other side I can be a little bit weaker but I hope to be ready.”
Modest as she is, Kvitova is well aware how good she can be, something she showed again at Wimbledon last year when she crushed Eugenie Bouchard in the final with a performance few have matched over the years. When the radar is off, her very low margin for error can lead to a flurry of mistakes; when it is on, she is almost unstoppable. The presence of Serena Williams, who will be chasing her 21st grand slam title, might put the fear of God into most players but, as the No2 seed, Kvitova does not have to worry about that. And having beaten her for the first time last month in Madrid, she will not fear the world No1.
“It was nice to have the first win against her,” she said. “It always counts. Of course, it doesn’t mean I’m going to beat her every day but I did it once so I hope this is going to help me if I face her again. I would be very happy to get to the final against Serena. I know I am in the opposite side [of the draw] so I really didn’t care about it.”
Along with her long-time coach, David Kotyza, and her stringer, Richard, in their rented Wimbledon home, Kvitova will also be accompanied by her mental coach, Michal Safar. The pair have been working together since 2010 and he has been integral to her success. Visualisation is part of their process, something that helped Kvitova last year when she played Venus Williams in the third round, a high-quality match that set her on the way to that second Wimbledon title.
“The day before I played her, after I played my second round and I had my [post-match] interview, they told me my next match is going to be Venus and I was like, oh my God, third round already with this great champion,” Kvitova said. “I knew how she plays great on the grass. For me it was a really great match. I wasn’t really the better player in the first two sets but I just turned it around. I think that was the point that was really important. This match was really good for me, mentally as well.”
Kvitova began 2015 well, winning the title in Sydney, but after losing to the rising American Madison Keys in the third round at the Australian Open she began to feel “empty”, no longer enjoying training or competing. It was Kotyza who suggested she take a break and for a month she did not pick up a racket, resting and recuperating. After two months out, missing big tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, Kvitova returned and her victory in Madrid was something she says would not have been possible had she not taken the time out.
Now, back at the place she loves so much, Kvitova will be a contender again, as long as she is 100%. “I just feel nice and I feel the history,” she said of her experience when walking in through the gates. “That’s why, if I am not playing my best, maybe the memories from last year will give me more confidence.”
