Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova on Tuesday underwent nearly four hours of surgery on her playing hand after she was stabbed by a knife-wielding intruder in her home in the Czech Republic.
Early indications showed the Czech world No. 11 could make a full recovery and return to tennis, where she has been a mainstay in the top rankings over the past five years.
“The scale of the injury is serious, but Petra is young and strong, according to the surgeon, who sees no reason why she could not return to playing tennis,” Czech Fed Cup team spokesman Karel Tejkal said.
Doctors operated on all five fingers of her left hand and she will not be able to exert pressure on the injured hand for three months to let repairs to tendons heal, he said.
Kvitova had said on social media before undergoing surgery that the attack by an individual with a knife on Tuesday had left her “shaken, but fortunate to be alive.”
The assault took place in her apartment in the city of Prostejov, about 260km southeast of Prague, the location of a tennis club where she, men’s world No. 10 Tomas Berdych and other top-ranked Czech players often train.
Czech media reported the intruder presented himself to Kvitova as a boiler inspector.
“In my attempt to defend myself, I was badly injured on my left hand,” Kvitova said on Twitter. “The injury is severe and I will need to see specialists, but if you know anything about me I am strong and I will fight this.”
The 26-year-old had been due later in the day to play a charity event in the Czech Republic’s second biggest city, Brno, alongside compatriot Lucie Safarova. The pair have been fixtures in the Czech Fed Cup team that has won the premier women’s team tennis event in five of the past six years.
“What happened to Petra, can happen to any of us. I got goosebumps from it,” Safarova told news Web site Aktualne.cz.
“Just finding out about @Petra_Kvitova and the awful stabbing and injury to her hand — pulling for you Petra,” Czech-born tennis great Martina Navratilova said on Twitter.
World No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska also voiced support for Kvitova.
“My thoughts are with @Petra_Kvitova. Terrible news,” she said on Twitter.
Tejkal had earlier told Czech media the morning attack had been “a random criminal act” and that Kvitova had not been specifically targeted.
“What has happened to me was not pleasant at all, but it is already behind me,” Kvitova said.
The hard-hitting left-hander rose to No. 2 in 2011, when she won the first of her two Wimbledon singles titles.
She slipped in the rankings this year, but showed improved form in recent months, winning the Wuhan Open title in October and the season-ending WTA Elite Trophy last month.
In 1993, then-world No. 1 Monica Seles was stabbed courtside during a break at a tournament in Germany by a man who admitted having an obsession with her rival, Steffi Graf. The attack forced Seles out of tennis for two years.
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