SI

Just seven months after knife attack, Petra Kvitova is into Wimbledon second round

Petra Kvitova is continuing her remarkable comeback story on the Wimbledon grass. 

Jon Wertheim

Just seven months after knife attack, Petra Kvitova is into Wimbledon second round
Just seven months after knife attack, Petra Kvitova is into Wimbledon second round /

As the kids say: “That escalated quickly.”

In December, Petra Kvitova injured in a home invasion and her career was in jeopardy. An assailant—still at large—stabbed Kvitova on the left hand (her dominant one) as she thwarted further attack. Kvitova made an emotional return at the French Open, but it was squarely a feel-good story. She lost in the second round to qualifier BethanieMattek-Sands. But after Kvitova won the Birmingham title last month, this morphed quickly into a tennis story.

Kvitova, a two-time champion, with a game ideally suited for grass, came in as a short-list contender and played ably in her opening match, making her way past Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-3, 6-4.

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Jon Wertheim
JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat , sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for "60 Minutes" and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor's in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.

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