Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra kvitova is hoping to return back to her best with the help of her new coach, Frantisek Cermak.
The Czech has endured a troublesome start to the year by winning only six out of her 14 matches on the tour. Shortly after her Australian Open loss, Kvitova took the surprise decision of finishing her collaboration with David Kotyza, a coach who she had worked with for seven years. Since their separation, the 26-year-old decided to go it alone on the tour as she hunted for a suitable replacement.
The replacement comes in the form of Cermak, a former world No.14 doubles player who played his last tournament in February this year partnering Germany’s Dustin Brown. The 39-year-old Czech has won 31 ATP doubles titles during his career and won the 2013 French Open mixed doubles title with Lucie Hradecka. Cermak’s lack of coaching experience has lead to some questioning the new partnership, however, Kvitova is confident with her choice.
“I was thinking about what to do and I concluded that he could help me”, Kvitova told Czech media on Thursday.
“ My tennis play has improved in the USA already. Frantisek is a good man and I think that he will be a good coach, too.”
During the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Kvitova produced her best performance of the year by reaching the quarterfinals. It was the first time that she has won three matches in the same tournament since the US Open last September.
Speaking with Czech website Idnes.cz, the world No.7 revealed that she got to know Cermak over the past month-and-a-half. She decided to enlist him on her team because they both have similar views. Cermak was one of a list of perspective coaches that Kvitova had considered, but she labelled him as her ‘clear favorite’.
“Some names I had in my head. But it was not conclusive. Frantisek was still the overwhelming favorite,” Kvitova said.
One of the goals of the new partnership will be trying to make Kvitova more aggressive on the court. She candidly admitted that she can be at times passive on the court, allowing her opponent to dominate the points. To combat this issue, she in undertaking new training drills with the help of her new coach.
“We all know that I can not play passively. Frantisek sees it the same way. He is trying to push me to be more aggressive,” The 26-year-old said.
“Exercises and workouts are made for the fact that I played the ball closer to the baselines. So that opponents did not have enough time to react.”
The first test in the Kvitova-Cermak partnership will be next week’s Porsche Open in Stuttgart, Germany. The premier tournament features eight top-15 players with Kvitova seeded fifth in the draw.
