Eleven Czech hopes will enter tennis Wimbledon in the coming days. The main focus is on two-time tournament winner Petra Kvitová and last year’s finalist Karolína Plíšková.
When it started to look like Czech tennis at Wimbledon was out of the mainstream of media interest, things started to happen. Shortly before the start of the third grand slam of the season, specialized foreign websites are increasingly operating under the names of two of the most experienced Czech tennis players.
In the course of the season so far, there has been rather silence around KP and PK. For a long time, both tennis players fought in vain with an unpleasant game crisis.
Kvitová reached the only quarterfinals until last week and had significantly more defeats than victories. He changed everything until the transition to grass.
The 32-year-old player on the British south coast recalled her best times and was thrilled by the five wins in a row, which marked the 29th title of her rich career, the first in fifteen months.
“It’s wonderful to have a title. It means something big is coming,” Kvit, 32, suggested a complete change of mood in an interview with Courtney Nguyen for the WTA Insider.
“Playing five matches in a row is a great preparation. This is just unbelievable to me. I haven’t thought about something like that for a whole year. It terribly strengthens my self-confidence and the overall feelings I have about myself,” she added.
None of the rivals will want to run into Kvitová in London. The Czech Republic in Eastbourne attracted attention mainly by its precise service performance. In four of the five matches she did not lose her serve, in the quarterfinals and semifinals she let her opponents go to a single breakball.
The Czech Republic intends to shuffle the cards in the busy second quarter of the Wimbledon spider, where it may run into world number four Paula Badosa from Spain in the third round.
However, there are many more candidates for the position of semifinalist in this part. Romanian Simona Halepová, who is being prepared for the peak of the season by former Serena Williams coach Patrick Mouratoglou, looks great.
However, the winner of Wimbledon from 2019 is waiting for an unpredictable obstacle at the start, Karolína Muchová.
To make matters worse, the expected comeback of seven-time Wimbledon champion Williams will also take place in the second quarter of the spider.
And the world of tennis is already holding its breath in advance with the excitement of a possible clash between Serena and last year’s finalist Karolína Plíšková in the third round.
The American and the Czech Republic have a balanced mutual balance of 2: 2 for matches and have never met on the grass. They last competed in a memorable battle in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open three years ago. Williams led 5: 1 and 40:30 in the third set, but she sprained her ankle during the match. She made perfect use of the situation and turned to 5: 7, after the match Serena also stated that her injury was not serious and she did not need treatment.
The Czech tennis player angered some fans of the American icon last week when she described Williams’ chances for Wimbledon success as not very realistic.
“She hasn’t played for a year and she’s not the youngest anymore, so I guess her body needs a lot of time to get back in shape. Playing matches in tournaments or just training is just a big difference. I think it’s going to be difficult for her. Terribly difficult, and it doesn’t matter how big the player is, because it’s a thing that takes time, “Plíšková said to the address of a 40-year-old American woman.
The Sportskeed server has already written off Plíšková and in the title lured Williams to a potential “blockbuster” battle in the round of 16 with young compatriot Coco Gauff and in the semifinals with world number one Igá Šwiateková from Poland.
Experts from Tennis.com do not trust the sixth Czech team. Two out of six authors predict Plíšková’s role as the biggest disappointment of this year’s Wimbledon. The main argument is a heavy lot in combination with a bad form.
Plíšková did not return to the circuit after a hand injury until March, since then she has won only eight of the eighteen matches. She fell in the general in Eastbourne in the first round after the defeat with the home Katie Boulter, the 118th player in the world.
At Wimbledon, compatriot Tereza Martincová is waiting for her at the beginning. Kvitová’s first opponent will be Italian Jasmine Paoliniová on Tuesday. The third Czech player to play will be Barbora Krejčíková, who will be surprised by the Belgian national team Maryna Zanevská.
On Monday, four Czechs will enter Wimbledon: Lukáš Rosol, Jiří Veselý, Kateřina Siniaková and Marie Bouzková.
