Background and career
Petra Kvitová (Czech: [ˈpɛtra ˈkvɪtovaː]; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech former professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová won 31 WTA Tour-level career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014. She also won the 2011 WTA Championships, and claimed a bronze medal in singles representing the Czech Republic at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Her career-high ranking of world No. 2 was achieved on 31 October 2011. Kvitová first gained notice by defeating then-world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the third round of the 2009 US Open. This was followed by her first major semifinal appearance at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. Then, during her breakthrough season in 2011, Kvitová won her first major title at Wimbledon over Maria Sharapova in the final, becoming the first player of either gender born in the 1990s to win a major. At the end of the season, she won the WTA Championships on her debut. She also led the Czech Republic to victory in the Fed Cup that same year, the country's first such title as an independent nation. In 2012, Kvitová reached the semifinals of the Australian and French Opens, and was crowned the US Open Series champion. That same year, she also won the Hopman Cup alongside Tomáš Berdych. In 2014, she won her second major title at Wimbledon, defeating Eugenie Bouchard in the final. In 2015, Kvitová completed the feat of reaching at least the quarterfinals of all four majors after her quarterfinal debut at the US Open. In 2016, she won the WTA Elite Trophy on her debut, thus becoming the first player ever to win both categories of year-end championships on debut. Kvitová was sidelined with injury in the first-half of 2017 following a knife attack during the off-season in 2016. In 2019, she reached her first major final in almost five years, at the Australian Open, finishing runner-up to Naomi Osaka. She retired from the sport in 2025.
Petra Kvitová was born to Jiří Kvita, a mayor and former school teacher, and Pavla Kvitová in Bílovec, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). She has two elder brothers. Her father Jiří introduced her to tennis. During her childhood, she admired Czech American player Martina Navratilova. Kvitová trained in her Moravian hometown, Fulnek, until the age of 16, and was then encouraged by an instructor to pursue a professional career in tennis. She was coached by David Kotyza from November 2008 until January 2016.
As a junior, Kvitová achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 27 on 9 July 2007. She also amassed a 35–7 and 20–9 record in singles and doubles respectively. Her lone Grand Slam tournament appearance as a junior came at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships. In singles, eighth-seeded Kvitová advanced to the last 16, after beating Jocelyn Rae and Malena Gordo before losing to eventual semifinalist Katarzyna Piter in straight sets. In doubles, she played alongside fellow Czech Kateřina Vaňková but they fell at the first hurdle to Mariana Duque Mariño and Michelle Larcher de Brito. Kvitová first attempted to qualify for a WTA tournament at the 2007 Prague Open, but she lost in the second round of qualifying to Ekaterina Ivanova. She then made her debut in the main draw of a WTA event at the 2007 Nordic Light Open, where she lost in the first round to Marta Domachowska in three sets. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Kvitová captured six ITF singles titles, four of which came in her home nation. She also made her Fed Cup debut in 2007, playing alongside Barbora Strýcová in doubles, where they lost to the Spanish team of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Virginia Ruano Pascual. Kvitová began 2008 by upsetting Anabel Medina Garrigues in her opening match in Paris for her first ever WTA main-draw victory before falling to fourth seed Elena Dementieva. Then, she racked up her first ever top-10 win by beating world No. 8 and defending champion, Venus Williams in the first round in Memphis. In April, she played her first Fed Cup singles match where she faced Israeli Shahar Pe'er, which she won in three sets. She also won her seventh and most recent ITF singles title that same month. Kvitová then made her Grand Slam tournament debut appearance at the French Open, and went to the last 16 where she lost to Kaia Kanepi in three sets, having defeated Akiko Morigami, Samantha Stosur and 12th seed Ágnes Szávay en route. Kvitová then made her Olympics debut at the Beijing Olympics, partnering Lucie Šafářová in doubles where the team lost to Australian pair of Stosur and Rennae Stubbs in the first round. In October, she reached the quarterfinals in Zurich as a qualifier where she lost to second seed Ana Ivanovic, but the result nevertheless placed her in the top 50 rankings for the first time ever. She finished 2008 ranked world No. 44. Kvitová started 2009 impressively by reaching her first final, at the Hobart International, having defeated Sally Peers, Alona Bondarenko, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Virginie Razzano en route. There, she defeated compatriot Iveta Benešová to lift her maiden career title. After suffering consecutive winless appearances at the Australian Open, the Open GdF Suez and the Dubai Championships, she reached the third round in Indian Wells, losing to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva. She was then forced to withdraw from the French Open due to an ankle injury, and withdrew in the first round of Wimbledon. At the US Open, she defeated then-world No. 1, Dinara Safina in the third round in three sets for her first win over a reigning world No. 1. Kvitová was ranked 71 places lower than Safina at the time. However, she came up short to eventual semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer in the round of 16, in three sets. At the Linz Open, Kvitová made her second final of the year, where she lost to Wickmayer once again. She concluded 2009 as world No. 62.
In 2010, Kvitová reached the semifinals of the Memphis Open, losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. She then sailed to the semifinals of Wimbledon, defeating Sorana Cîrstea, Zheng Jie, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, and Kaia Kanepi en route, before falling to defending and eventual champion Serena Williams in straight sets. Nevertheless, she was guaranteed to reach the top 30 rankings for the first time. However, after Wimbledon, she suffered five consecutive first round defeats before breaking the losing streak at the US Open. There, she defeated Lucie Hradecká and Elena Baltacha, before losing to defending and eventual champion Kim Clijsters in the third round, having led 3–0 in the first set before going on to lose the next 12 games in a row. Kvitová recorded her first top 40 finish in 2010, at world No. 34, and was also named WTA Newcomer of the Year.
Kvitová started 2011 by winning her second career title at the Brisbane International, defeating the likes of third seed Nadia Petrova and fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to the final, where she beat Andrea Petkovic for the title. With the win, she achieved the ranking of world No. 28. Kvitová was the 25th seed at the Australian Open, and made her first quarterfinal here, having defeated Sally Peers, Anna Chakvetadze, fifth seed Samantha Stosur and 22nd seed Flavia Pennetta en route, where she lost to second seed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets. Her strong run there ensured her a top 20 debut in the rankings, at world No. 18. Kvitová then beat Slovaks Dominika Cibulková and Daniela Hantuchová in the Fed Cup opening round to put the Czech team in the semifinals. At the Open GdF Suez, Kvitová won her second title of the year by defeating newly crowned world No. 1 and newly crowned Australian Open champion, Kim Clijsters in the final, in straight sets. Once again, Kvitová's ranking rose to a new high of world No. 14. After that, she suffered an early loss to Ayumi Morita in Dubai. She then lost her next two opening matches to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in Indian Wells, and to Kristina Barrois at an ITF tournament in Nassau. At the Miami Open, Kvitová defeated Varvara Lepchenko in the second round but then lost her next match to Pavlyuchenkova. In the Fed Cup semifinals against Belgium, she led the Czech team into the final, with wins over Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens. Kvitová kicked off her clay-court season in Madrid, where she won her third title of the year and her first Premier Mandatory-level title. She beat Alexandra Dulgheru, Chanelle Scheepers and second seed Zvonareva to reach the last eight. She then overcame Cibulková and Li Na to reach the final where she defeated Victoria Azarenka to claim the title. She made her top 10 debut after the tournament at world No. 10. The following week, because Jelena Janković failed to defend her points in Rome, Kvitová moved one place up to No. 9. She played another ITF tournament at her home country in Prague that week, losing in the final to Magdaléna Rybáriková. Kvitová was the ninth seed at the French Open. She defeated Gréta Arn, Zheng Jie, and Vania King in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion Li Na in the fourth round, despite having led 3–0 in the deciding set. Kvitová played a warm-up tournament for Wimbledon at Eastbourne and reached the final where she lost to Marion Bartoli in three sets. Kvitová then won her first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships. Seeded eighth, she defeated Alexa Glatch, Anne Keothavong, Roberta Vinci and Wickmayer en route to the quarterfinals. She then saw off Tsvetana Pironkova and fourth seed Azarenka to reach her first Grand Slam final, where she beat fifth seed Maria Sharapova in straight sets. Thus, she became the first left-handed female player to win the singles title since Martina Navratilova in 1990, the first player of either gender born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam tournament title and the first Czech player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Jana Novotná won Wimbledon in 1998. Following Wimbledon, she kicked off her US Open Series campaign at the Canadian Open, where she lost to Petkovic in the third round. The following week at the Cincinnati Open, she lost to Petkovic in the same round once more. She was then upset by Dulgheru in the opening round of the US Open, thus becoming the first Grand Slam champion to lose in the first round of the following Grand Slam tournament without winning a set. Kvitová's form then improved in Tokyo, where she reached the semifinals, losing to Zvonareva. She cracked the top 5 rankings, at world No. 5, after Tokyo and also qualified for the Tour Championships for the first time in her career. However, the following week, she lost in the first round of the China Open to Sofia Arvidsson in three sets. Then, at the Linz Open, she defeated Rebecca Marino, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Hantuchová and Janković on the way to the final, where she beat Cibulková to collect her fifth title of the season. At the Tour Championships in Istanbul, third-seeded Kvitová emerged champion, thus becoming the third player to win the title on debut. During the round-robin stage, she defeated Zvonareva, Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets, putting her through to the semifinals. Her next opponent was Stosur, whom she beat to reach the final, a match against Azarenka for the world No. 2 ranking, which Kvitová won in three sets. She ended the year only 115 points second to Wozniacki for the No. 1 spot. She concluded 2011 by helping the Czech Republic win its maiden Fed Cup title as an independent nation, winning her singles rubbers against Maria Kirilenko and Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the end, the Czechs emerged victorious against Russia 3–2. She was also named WTA Player of the Year, WTA Most Improved Player of the Year and ITF World Champion in 2011. In addition, she also won the WTA Sportsmanship Award.
At the beginning of 2012, Kvitová was widely expected to reach the world No. 1 ranking. She stated that attaining the position "would be nice", but that her priority was to improve her game. Kvitová opted not to defend her title in Brisbane, choosing instead to participate in the Hopman Cup with Tomáš Berdych, where they won the title, defeating the French team in the final. She also won all of her singles matches at the event, defeating Tsvetana Pironkova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Caroline Wozniacki, and Marion Bartoli. At the Sydney International, Kvitová lost in the last four to Li Na. Had she won the tournament, she would have been the new world No. 1. Nevertheless, her run to the semifinals there saw her extend the longest winning streak of her career to date, 14 wins, that dates back to her title run in Linz last October. Then, at the Australian Open, where second-seeded Kvitová was the favourite for the title, she defeated Vera Dushevina, Carla Suárez Navarro, Maria Kirilenko and Ana Ivanovic to reach her second consecutive quarterfinal of the tournament. There, she saw off Sara Errani to advance to the semifinals, where she lost in three sets to Maria Sharapova, despite having been up a break in the third set. On Fed Cup duty, Kvitová extended her long streak of wins in singles matches indoors, which started with her title run at the Open GdF Suez last year, to 25 matches, with her four victories against Germany and Italy, in the opening round and semifinal ties, respectively. She scored those wins over the likes of Germans Julia Görges and Sabine Lisicki, and Italians Francesca Schiavone and Errani. In Indian Wells, Kvitová lost in the third round to Christina McHale in three sets. In Miami, she exited in the second round after falling to Venus Williams in three sets. The following month in Stuttgart, she defeated Schiavone and Angelique Kerber to reach the semifinals, where she lost to Sharapova in straight sets, thus snapping a long run of 27 consecutive wins indoors. At the Madrid Open, she was the defending champion, but lost in the second round to compatriot Lucie Hradecká. The following week in Rome, she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sorana Cîrstea to record her first quarterfinal appearance there, where she lost to Kerber. Kvitová was seeded fourth at the French Open. She advanced to the semifinals for the first time in her career, after defeating Ashleigh Barty, Urszula Radwańska, Nina Bratchikova, Varvara Lepchenko, and Yaroslava Shvedova. There, for the third time this year, she lost to Sharapova, this time allowing the Russian to reclaim the No. 1 ranking. Kvitová started her grass-court season in Eastbourne, where she fell to Ekaterina Makarova in the second round. As the fourth seed at Wimbledon, Kvitová defeated Akgul Amanmuradova, Elena Baltacha and Lepchenko to reach the fourth round. She then beat Schiavone to reach the quarterfinals but the first-time defending champion's journey came to an end, after she was overwhelmed in straight sets by four-time and eventual champion, Serena Williams. After Wimbledon, Kvitová dropped out of the top 5 rankings. Kvitová then competed at the Summer Olympics, making her maiden appearance in the singles discipline. As the sixth seed, she defeated Kateryna Bondarenko and Peng Shuai in the first two rounds, both in straight sets. She then overcame Flavia Pennetta to reach the quarterfinals. There, she was upset by Kirilenko in straight sets. Kvitová kickstarted her US Open Series campaign by winning the Canadian Open, the eighth title of her career. She defeated Ksenia Pervak in her opener and then moved past Bartoli to reach the quarterfinals, where she beat Tamira Paszek. She then beat Wozniacki in three sets to reach the final, where she overcame Li in three sets to win the title, thus ending a 10-month title drought. At the Cincinnati Open, she reached the semifinals, falling to Kerber once again. She then won her second title of the year and the ninth of her career in New Haven, defeating Nicole Gibbs, Lucie Šafářová, Errani and Kirilenko along the way. She also secured the US Open Series crown after her win over Šafářová in New Haven. At the US Open, she reached the fourth round for the first time since 2009. Along the way, she defeated Polona Hercog, Alizé Cornet, and Pauline Parmentier. She then lost to Bartoli in three sets. During the Asian swing, Kvitová did not enjoy much success as she suffered early losses in Tokyo and Beijing. Kvitová was named the sixth qualifier for the Tour Championships following the China Open. As the defending champion, she dropped her first round-robin match to Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets and was then forced to withdraw with a virus. Kvitová ended 2012 as world No. 8. She then helped the Czech team to defend its Fed Cup title, going 1–1 in singles matches against Serbia in the final before the Czech Republic won 3–1 in the tie through Šafářová.
