Good to be back, says knife-attack survivor on reaching Australian open finals

Prague: Australian Open finalist Petra Kvitova hailed the end of her Grand Slam bad luck – and of a two-year transition following a knife attack that almost ended her career.

Having played only two Grand Slam quarter-finals since her Wimbledon triumph in 2014, Kvitova joked last year that she might as well quit playing at the top four events. This year’s Australian Open offered a different picture of the left-handed Czech who did not lose a single set on her way to the final in which she lost to Japan’s Naomi Osaka in three sets on Saturday.

“I’m glad it was only a joke, that it didn’t happen,” the 28-year-old, who also won Wimbledon in 2011, told reporters in Prague. “I guess it’s a compensation for last year which wasn’t the best when it comes to Grand Slams,” added Kvitova, who in 2018 reached the last-32 phase at the French and US Open, bowing out of the Australian Open and Wimbledon at the first hurdle.

“I wasn’t too happy after the loss but now the positive things prevail,’ said the new world number two. ‘I felt very well throughout those three weeks I played in Australia.”

Kvitova started the year poorly at Brisbane where she lost in the last 16, but she took the top honours at Sydney a week later — at a tournament where she initially was not expecting to play.