Wimbledon 2017 has many emotional stories, but none more sentimental than Petra Kvitova’s

On the morning of December 20, 2016, in the eastern Czech town of Prostejov, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was having breakfast when the doorbell rang. It was a man pretending to be an electrician. He entered the home and attacked her with a knife, stabbing her left hand, the hand with which she plays tennis. Later that day, she tweeted this message to her fans:

Kvitova underwent a four-hour surgery to repair the two nerves and seven tendons on all five of her fingers that were damaged. In this interview with the BBC, she admits to having wondered if she would ever play tennis again. The horrific incident, she said, “took my smile away.” After the surgery, when she saw her hand without the bandages for the first time, she was so sickened by the sight of it, that she asked the doctor if she could lie down.

On June 24 this year, just six months after that horrific incident, Kvitova defeated Ashleigh Barty of Australia in the Aegon Classic final in Birmingham, a grass-court lead-up event for Wimbledon. Afterwards she said, “I could not have imagined a better comeback than I am having now”. No one could, with the possible exception of another tennis player who knows all about being stabbed, Monica Seles.

Kvitova’s rise

Ranked No 12 at present, Kvitova attracted attention with her grass-court game when she reached the Wimbledon semi-final in 2010. Although she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams on that day, she returned the following year to make it to the final. There, she beat the favourite, Maria Sharapova, to become the only Grand Slam winner to have been born in the 90s, and the first left-handed woman to win Wimbledon since Martina Navratilova. By the end of that year, she had established herself as one of the top players in the women’s game. Her second Wimbledon title, when it came in 2014, was not a huge surprise.

The daughter of a schoolteacher, Kvitova loves to play on grass. Her aggressive game, which includes a slice backhand and good volleying skills, is well suited to the surface. To date, she has won 20 WTA titles and been ranked as high as No 2. She has reached at least the quarter-final stage at each Grand Slam tournament, and won the World Tour Finals, the Fed Cup, and an Olympic bronze medal.

But despite these successes, Kvitova has never enjoyed the stardom of some other players. Her unassuming nature and desire to keep a low profile is partly responsible for this. Kvitova’s lack of consistency has at times cost her matches she should have won and also prevented her from dominating women’s tennis. She has also suffered her share of misfortunes, including a bout of mononucleosis in 2015. Nothing, however, could have prepared her for what happened just before Christmas last year.

No shortage of emotions

This year’s Wimbledon ladies’ draw highlights a number of emotional stories.

Perhaps the most dramatic one is that of five-time champion Venus Williams, who was involved in a tragic accident last month when her car hit that of an elderly Florida couple’s. The man in the other car succumbed to his injuries a few weeks later, following which his wife sued Williams for inattentive driving and negligence.

After her first round victory, Williams broke down in tears at her press conference when asked about the accident. On a happier note, Victoria Azarenka is playing in her first major after giving birth last December. She is hoping to become only the fourth woman ever to win a Grand Slam after becoming a mother. And speaking of babies, Serena Williams’s absence from this year’s Wimbledon is a story in itself.

Even though she is not playing at this event, her aura impacts everything. She has been as much in the news off the court as any player on it in recent days. Vanity Fair has featured her on its June cover. John McEnroe got himself in trouble by claiming she would not fare well on the men’s tour. And everyone is constantly talking about how her absence from the All England club this year has split the women’s draw wide open.

Raising our fists in the hope of a fairytale

But the most sentimental story of all might well end up being that of the 27-year-old Czech No 2. What is quite remarkable is that a lot of experts actually think she has a great chance. Her victory at Birmingham barely a month after her comeback, her record at Wimbledon and her grass court prowess, have all combined to make her a favourite with some bookmakers.

And perhaps for the first time in her career, Kvitova felt like a fan favourite as well after her first-round win on Monday over Sweden’s Johanna Larsson. Cheered on from the stands by her team members who wore T-shirts with the slogan “Courage, Belief, Love”, as well as the surgeon who repaired her hand, an emotional Kvitova managed a straight set victory on day one despite her very apparent nervousness.

Her successful return to the top of competitive tennis reminds one of that other comeback over two decades ago. After being stabbed courtside by a deranged fan in 1993, then No 1 Seles spent more than two years away from tennis. When she finally returned in the summer of 1995, she won her comeback tournament in Canada, reached the US Open final next, and followed that up by winning the Australian Open. While the two incidents are wildly different, it’s almost eerie to note that both play left-handed and have been victims of knife attacks. Hopefully, Kvitova draws inspiration from her predecessor.

It is a wonder that she’s actually even playing this soon, with fingers that are still healing and unable to form a proper grip on the racket. In fact, it is reported that her left hand does not completely close yet. The low-key Kvitova has said that it is “not realistic” for her to expect to win a third Wimbledon title this year. Simply being back, she says, being healthy, and being able to play tennis again, is gratifying. That must be true. Just before the French Open this year, where she made her comeback, Kvitova said in an interview: “Now I can just enjoy everything, even the beautiful weather outside. Sometimes I just stand outside and see the sun and say: ‘Oh, it’s beautiful.’ I see different kind of things than before.”

With all the pressure off – unlike the years when she arrived in London as the defending champion – and a newfound appreciation for life, Kvitova might just surprise herself. In the meantime, each match, each set, even each point played, is a victory. And when Kvitova finds herself unable to pump her left fist in celebration, hopefully all the fans present will pump theirs for her.

Oindrila Mukherjee tweets here.