Petra Kvitova can use setback to become a better player

Petra Kvitova relinquished her Wimbledon title in a defeat to 2010 champion Serena Williams in two sets on centre court on Tuesday.  It was a high quality match, particularly in the 2nd set, but the difference between the two players was the serve of Serena Williams.  Kvitova will be disappointed not to defend her Wimbledon title but should use this experience to learn from the defeat and become a better player longer term.

By her own admission, Kvitova has not had a great start to 2012 in comparison to 2011.  By July 2011 she had won Sydney, Paris Indoor, Madrid and Wimbledon, plus played in the final of the Aegon Championships in Eastbourne.  However, so far in 2012 Kvitova has not reached a final of any event despite getting to 4 semifinals including the Australian and French Opens.  This has left some people to question whether she has the potential to become the best player in the world. 

There are a few factors which have prompted this; in January she had two opportunities to become number 1 in the world but didn’t take them, losing in the semifinals of both Sydney and the Australian Open.  The defeat to Sharapova in Australia was particularly painful for her as she had at least 8 break point opportunities in the 3rd set and was not able to capitalise, eventually coming up short when serving to stay in the match.  In many ways that defeat has set the tone for this year and she has lost her confidence slightly as a result.

Due to Federation cup commitments, Kvitova chose not to defend her title at the Open Gaz de France in Paris.  She then missed Doha and Dubai due to illness and had a rotten time of it in Indian Wells and Miami.  The clay court season was better with semifinal appearances in Stuttgart and the French Open, plus a quarterfinal appearance at the Italian Open.

However, it is fair to say that Kvitova went into Wimbledon short on confidence and belief, coupled with the fact it was a new situation for her to arrive at a major tournament as defending champion.  In the first round against Akgul Amanmuradova, Kvitova went 4-1 down in the 1st set but dug deep and found her game to win in straight sets.  That allowed her the freedom to play much better against Elena Baltacha and Varvara Lepchenko.  In the 4th round, Francesca Schiavone provided a very stern test with her variety but Kvitova came through 6-1 in the 3rd set.

In many ways it was unfortunate that the two previous Wimbledon winners had to play each other in the quarterfinals as it would have been much more worthy as a semifinal or final.  Although Kvitova was defending champion, Serena Williams would have been seen as the slight favourite due to her achievements and experience; that proved to be the case. 

The key to the match was the serve and return of serve, classic grass court tennis.  Serena Williams served incredibly well including 13 aces and returned beautifully.  Meanwhile Kvitova didn’t start well but played much better in the second set and manufactured a set point but couldn’t take advantage as Serena hit a bomb at 114 mph.   Kvitova didn’t get enough returns into play to make a dent into Serena’s service games.  This probably made Kvitova aware that she couldn’t make any mistakes at key moments, which precisely led to mistakes because of the pressure put on her by Serena Williams, especially at 5-6 when she netted a forehand, leaving Serena to serve out the match.

Petra Kvitova will be disappointed to lose her Wimbledon title, but should not become too disheartened with her performance.  I saw a player who played a high level of tennis in the 2nd set, which would have been good enough to defeat any of the other quarterfinalists in the draw.  Kivitova will return to her hometown to have a bit of downtime, and take the opportunity to reflect on where her game is with her coach and what she has to do to keep improving.

Kvitova is not moving quite as sharp as when I saw her in Eastbourne 12 months ago; injuries and illness may have disrupted her training schedule during 2012 but that is something she can work on.  She is not getting to the ball to hit those amazing shots she has at her disposal.  I think Kvitova can work on getting more topspin on her shots to improve her margin for error.  A good example is Pete Sampras who said he added more topspin to his forehand to improve his margin of error after a couple years on the tour.   Sampras showed it is possible to hit bullet shots and consistently get them in, that is an area Kvitova can improve.

I also think Kvitova’s return of serve has gone off a bit this year compared to 12 months ago.  She can develop a great return of serve because she sees the ball so early and gets to wide angles, but probably goes for too much at this stage.  A good strategy would be to get the ball into play deep on big points to ask the question of the server.  

One area I’ve been advocating for Petra Kvitova to become more aggressive is the serve, I have mentioned in previous articles that she should go for her first serve more often.  Serena Williams showed why this is a good tactic, by serving aces and so many unreturnables, it allowed her to have more freedom to take risks in the return games.  Kvitova has a great serve and 2nd serve in particular; she can work on her making her first serve a bigger and faster weapon.  I also feel Kvitova can serve many more aces than she currently does, especially on grass and hardcourts.

This is an opportunity for Petra Kvitova to make some ground on her rivals with the hardcourt season coming up.  She doesn’t have many points to defend so if she can get good results in North America, it will be an opportunity to re-establish herself as a major contender for the titles and major titles going forward.  A player can learn much more about themselves in defeat than victory, therefore I am backing Petra Kvitova to overcome these difficulties at this stage of her young career and to come back to Wimbledon next year an improved player.  I am also backing her to win more major titles and get to number 1 in the future.