Let's take a look at the WTA TOP 10 : Petra Kvitova

If there's somehow, a player that conviced the tennis family, it's her : Petra Kvitova. The Czech player became a real shining star during her breakthrough year : 2011.

2- Petra Kvitova (CZECH REPUBLIC)


Petra Kvitova after her match point against Maria Sharapova

at the final of the Championships Wimbledon 

(All Lawn Tennis Club,London)



2010 Ending-Season Ranking : N°34 (+32)

     2011 in Review : 2011 has been a great year for Petra Kvitova, it's the least we can say. She's won  6 titles including the Year-Ending Championships in Istanbul and the most important, Wimbledon winning over Maria Sharapova in the final 6/3 6/4. Petra began the year by winning in Brisbane before reaching the quarter-finals at the Australian Open (l. to Vera Zvonareva). Thus, she won The Paris Open GDF Suez against Kim Clijsters in the final (6/4 6/3). Besides the Linz Genralli Open that she won at the end of the year, she played a teremendous tennis at the Mutua Madrilena Open in Madrid to win the trophy by sgning victories over Victoria Azarenka (final) and Li Na (semi-finals). In Roland Garros, she lost to the eventual champion, the Chinese player Li Na in a three-setter, in the 4th round. After that, she reached the final at Eastbourne where she lost to the frenchwoman, Marion Bartoli. Then came the won at Wimbledon, Petra Kvitova became the first girl of the 90's to win a grand slam, doing it even before Victoria Azarenka or even Caroline Wozniacki.

  The summer's been a bit more complicated. In fact, she admitted herself that winning Wimbledon was difficult to handle for her and she showed it by losing in the opening rounds at Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open where she's been knocked out in the 1st round by the Roumanian Alexandra Dulgheru in straight sets. She became the first Wimbledon laureate to lose the 1st round at the US Open.

The indoor season showed a slightly better Petra Kvitova as she won in Linz, reached the semi-finals in Tokyo (lost to Zvonareva). She arrived to the Masters as third seed and won all her round robin matches against Caroline Wozniacki (6/4 6/2), Vera Zvonareva (6/2 6/4) and Agniezska Radwanska (7/6 6/3) and won over Samantha Stosur and Victoria Azarenka in order to win the Istanbul Masters.

 2011, has been a great year for Petra Kvitova with great achiviements. But, she still have to find sort of consistency, especially on outdoors hardcourts as she suffered early exits at Indian Wells, Miami, Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open.

    What to expect for 2012 ? : 2012 have to be the year of confirmation. Petra Kvitova is now considered as a top player, she won the Award of the WTA Player of the year and many tennis fans and tennis specialists consider Petra as the real number one. She will be a strong contender in all 4 slams as she plays well on all surfaces. We expect from her to defend the titles she won this year and why not to win anothers. The year beginning will be very important as a good performance from Petra in both Sydney and Australian Open could lead her to take the number one spot over Caroline Wozniacki. Before those events, the Hopman Cup, which she entered will be a good test to see wether she's ready or not to take the leadership on the WTA Tour.  Personnally, I don't know if Petra will be able to handle the pressure around her and could, at the beginning be really disappointing. I wouldn't be surprise if she did really bad in Australia and then got better and better, especially during the claycourt season. I actually can see her winning Roland Garros. But, I really hope, for us, tennis fan, that she'll play well since January.

The main goal for Petra is to be consistant throughout the whole year. As a Nr.2 and a dominant player, she's not allowed anymore to have up and downs during the season, she has to maintain her level during the year, which can be difficult when we know that she's got asthma...

Finally, seeing the way she played this year in Fed Cup to make Czech Republic win the trophy in that competition in 2011, I can imagine she'll be overmotivated to go deep at the Olympics and why not winning a medal in an Olympic event that will be hold in Wimbledon, her new garden...

The best of 2011 : Petra Kvitova d. Maria Sharapova 6/3 6/4 (Wimbledon-Final)
I chose it as her best match because she played an outstanding tennis to get rid of Maria Sharapova, it's really impressive assuming that it was her first Grand Slam final and that she was playing against a former winner at Wimbledon.

The Worst of 2011 : Alexandra Dulgheru d. Petra Kvitova 7/6 6/2
A complete miss in Petra's excellent season. She was out there, like she forgot the tennis that made her win Wimbledon at home. She lacks consistency here.