Today, we continue the third edition of this series of the inconsistent players of the WTA. The women who is going to be the talking point for the day is 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon Champion, Petra Kvitova. The Czech poses a problem for most players already being left-handed, but she has another dimension to her game with raw power that is only really matched by Serena Williams from the top women. However, she has yet to prove herself on a yearly basis. The questions posed for her are can she win another slam other than Wimbledon? Also, will she ever rise to the cream of the crop and reach world number one?
2010 was the season she broke out with a semifinals appearance in Wimbledon before getting knocked out by Serena Williams. The following year was her first true impact season. After winning lesser-known titles in Brisbane and Paris, she won her first ever WTA Premier Mandatory in Madrid. On her way to her first Wimbledon title, she knocked off five ranked players including Maria Sharapova in the finals. Kvitova's form dropped off after her title, however, she would become the third person to win the WTA Year-End Championships on her debut.
In the beginning of 2012, she was highly regarded to take over the world number one role. Although she did not win a Grand Slam title, her best results were there as she achieved some of her best results in certain Slams that year. She was a semifinalist at the Australian Open and the French Open which to date, are her best results there. She had only one title from the Premier Mandatories or a Premier Five event winning the Rogers Cup in Canada.
The last two years for Kvitova have been a roller coaster ride for the Czech. Two wins in three tournaments during the Australian swing. A win over Australia in Fed Cup hoped to give her confidence into the clay swing but her struggles were compunded there exiting early in nearly every tournament she entered. The Czech would return to her home away from home, the grass courts of Wimbledon. She wouldn't be able to replicate her magic of 2011 falling to Kirsten Flipkens in the quarterfinals. To the tennis world, this loss was something out of the blue because although Flipkens was a ranked player, she was not known to have the repetoire to really trouble Kvitova, but she proved them wrong otherwise. She failed to defend her Rogers Cup title falling to Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals and had an early exit at the US Open losing to Allison Riske. She would win the Toray Pan Pacific Open for her second title of the year and would qualify for her third consecutive WTA Year-End Championship losing to Li Na in the semifinals.
Last year struggles from the following season returned with poor showing at Sydney, the Australian Open, and Dubai. Her best showing on the clay swing was reaching the semifinals in Madrid before losing to Simona Halep. Back on the luscious lawns of London was where Kvitova would once again thrive. After surviving a scare from Venus Williams (two points away from losing the match), she would steamroll the competition en route to her second Wimbledon title. After a forgettable US Open and US Open Series, she would win the inagural title at the Wuhan Open. She would finish off the season strong with a finals appearance at the China Open, an appearance at the Year-End Championships, and being part of her the Czech Republic Fed Cup team giving her a third Fed Cup title in four years. Kvitova would finish the year ranked fourth in the world.
This year even with a title in Sydney, we fully expected her to challenge the best of the best in Melbourne, but she fell short falling to teen-sensation Madison Keys. Picking up one win in her last three tournaments isn't going to help her confidence of late. Also, withdrawing from Indian Wells and Miami due to exhaustion are not helping the cause. Some analysts were saying in Melbourne that she looked like in the best shape of her life, but that is not the case however with her withdrawal from these Premier Mandatories.
Kvitova has provided us an interesting case as we are not really questioning her ability, but we are questioning if she really has it to make it to the top of the WTA. To answer whether or not she wins outside of Wimbledon, well she can and will win another Grand Slam title, likely Australia. The reason for Australia is because the courts play faster Down Under than at the US Open, and she has proven she can go deep there. It's going to take a little luck and more consistency from her, however, we know she can hit anyone off of the court on a given day. Will she reach number one in the world? She probably will reach world number one, but maybe for a couple of weeks to a month at best. She has yet to prove that she can win titles on a yearly basis while the top players like Serena Williams, Simona Halep, and Maria Sharapova are winning multiple titles year-in, year-out. It might be a few years, but she will get there.