Petra Kvitova’s bid for a third Wimbledon title has acquired new urgency after personal setbacks which may influence her preparations at the grass court Aegon Classic.
The gifted left-hander from the Czech Republic has not won a title for 10 months, a loss of form which has been affected by variable health and perhaps also by last month’s revelation of her separation from her fiance.
A better performance during next week’s impressively upgraded Birmingham event – it has four world top-10 players and half the top 20 -- will help Kvitova believe she can rediscover her mojo on her favourite surface.
“It’s very important for me to get the best possible preparation on grass this year,” admitted Kvitova, 26, with her first match possibly scheduled for tomorrow. She will need a major improvement in form if she is to enjoy success again at Wimbledon this year.
A semi-final at Stuttgart and a quarter-final at Indian Wells is the best she has managed during 2016 and her ranking has slipped from world number two a year ago to 11 now. This slide may be partly a result of the glandular fever she suffered for several weeks after last year’s Wimbledon and she has missed several tournaments.
Then last month she said that she had separated from Radek Meidl, the hockey player to whom she became engaged in December. Kvitova was seen without her engagement ring during her second-round loss to Madison Keys at the Italian Open in Rome, after which she admitted: “I did not play with it on because Radek and I have parted ways.”
She tweeted soon afterwards: “A tough year, which means I appreciate your support even more. Hoping my favourite grass will help me turn things around.”
Rarely has Kvitova been keener to achieve good results on her best surface, which is one of the reasons why she has returned to Birmingham after an eight-year absence. Another reason is probably that, after the tournament’s elevation two years ago to Premier level, it offers a record prize fund of $780,900 and has attracted the strongest field in its 35-year history.
The top seed in Birmingham is Agnieszka Radwanska, the former Wimbledon finalist from Poland who recently returned to world number two after a four-year interval, and is currently ranked three. Other realistic contenders include Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion from Germany, Simona Halep, the former French Open finalist, and Belinda Bencic, the Swiss 19-year-old who is the youngest in the world’s top 10.
Caroline Wozniacki, the former world number one from Denmark, is also expected to challenge.