Wimbledon champion Kvitova's attacker gets eight-year sentence

FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Australian Open - Women's Singles Final - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 26, 2019. Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova attends a news conference after losing her match against Japan's Naomi Osaka. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

PRAGUE (Reuters) - An attacker who stabbed two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in her home was sentenced on Tuesday to eight years in prison by a Czech regional court, a court spokeswoman said.

Kvitova suffered severe wounds to her left playing hand as she struggled with the intruder, identified by the court as Radim Zondra, in her flat during the attack in December 2016.

When Kvitova testified in February, she spoke of "blood everywhere" and she said that she recognised the attacker in police photographs immediately by his eyes.

FILE PHOTO: Czech Republic's tennis player Petra Kvitova reacts during a news conference after she was injured when she fought off an intruder in her home, damaging all the fingers on her playing hand, in Prague, Czech Republic December 23, 2016. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo

Neither of the sides appealed the court's ruling immediately, but they both can do so later, Brno regional court spokeswoman Eva Angyalossy said.

Kvitova, currently the world's number two in WTA rankings, returned to professional tennis in May 2017, crowning her comeback 18 months later with her first final appearance at 2019 Australian Open.

She may reach the top spot for the first time in her career at the conclusion of the Miami tournament this weekend.

(Reporting by Robert Muller, Editing by William Maclean)