Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is keeping coy about her chances of defending her title at next week’s Madrid Open.
The Czech has enjoyed numerous success at the Caja Magica, winning the title in 2011 and 2015. In last year’s tournament she produced back-to-back wins over Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova to clinch the title. Next week Kvitova will be bidding to become the second woman in history (after Serena Williams) to successfully defend her Madrid title.
“It would be something huge for me for sure because it is a big tournament and I have always wanted to do well. If I were to defend the title in Madrid it would be a really great result for me,” the world No.6 said about her chances.
Out of the four Premier Mandatory tournaments (Indian Wells, Madrid, Miami and Beijing), Kvitova has always performed best in Madrid. Currently with 18 wins in the tournament, she has a 78% winning rate. Putting this in perspective, her second best premier tournament is Indian Wells where she has won 12 matches (63% winning rate). Explaining the reason behind her Madrid success, Kvitova said that the surface aids her fast and aggressive play.
“One reason is that the altitude really helps the players who are playing fast and aggressively. The balls really fly and I think that the players who are just pushing the ball don’t really have a chance to finish the ball. As I said, I think this really helps my game, especially my serve. It is always good to have these kinds of weapons,” Kvitova said.
The start to 2016 has been a roller coaster experience for Kvitova. Shortly after her second round loss at the Australian Open, she separated with her coach of seven years, David Kotyza. Traveling around the world on her own, she produced mixed results on the tour with early losses in Dubai and Doha followed by reaching the quarterfinals in Indian Wells.
Shortly before the start of her European clay court swing, Kvitova confirmed that she has hired Frantisek Cermak as her coach. The new partnership got off to a strong start at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix last week when she reached the semifinals. Kvitova’s journey to the semifinal in Stuttgart wasn’t due to the quick work of her new coach. In fact, Kvitova and her new coach have agreed to change nothing about her game.
“Well, I don’t think that he wants to change anything,” Kvitova said last week in Germany.
“I just think that he wants to build what is inside me, which is like aggressive play, serving well, going forward and doing a little bit drop shots and slice. I think the last few weeks we were working on staying near by the baseline and being a little bit quicker.”
In the hunt for her first title of this year, Kvitova will be seeded seventh in next’s week Madrid Open. The draw for the women’s tournament will take place on Friday at 10:30 CET.
