PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Petra Kvitova can be nervous, super nervous, when she walks on the court. But once she starts cracking the ball in a Fed Cup Final, the Czech is happy and lethal. Without a doubt, she hasn’t been perfect in Prague, but she loves it when more than 10,000 fans are jumping up and down and pulling for her.
“I was nervous every time I step on court,” Kvitova said. “Especially here, when the full crowd is cheering for us. I never be without the nerves playing Fed Cup for Czech Republic. It’s going to be difficult.”
And how. The 25-year-old, ranked No.6, has been in this position before – she knows that while the Czechs may be slightly favored against the Russians this weekend, it’s nearly 50-50, and if she doesn’t play excellent ball the fans could be squirming.
Both countries are women’s tennis powerhouses, and it shows. The Russians have brought a formidable team in an attempt to wrest the Cup away from the defending champions. The five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will play the Fed Cup final for the first time ever, alongside three experienced teammates: Ekaterina Makarova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina.
“It’s good Maria is excited and I hope she likes Prague,” Kvitova said. “I know she will be prepared.”
The Czech captain, Petr Pala, added, “We have them [on] their backs, but it’s going to be a really close tie and I don’t see any favorite, even on paper.”
The Czechs will be more than prepared, however, as they have hit on the court at the O2 Arena in Prague many times and know exactly what to do. The Czech Republic has been phenomenal in the competition during the past five years, winning three Fed Cup titles since 2011 and has assembled a team ready to grab another.
Not only will the two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova play this weekend, but also French Open finalist and No.9 Lucie Safarova, who has come through when she was needed the most. In 2012 in Prague in the Fed Cup final, Safarova beat two excellent Serbian competitors back to back, the former 2008 Roland Garros champion and former No.1 Ana Ivanovic, and the former No.1 Jelena Jankovic, to win the title.
Karolina Pliskova, currently ranked No.11, has made the team – the 22-year-old reached the final of the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai last week. The veteran Barbora Strycova is also there, having won 17 doubles titles and collected a lot of experience – in 2002, when she was only 16 years old, she won her first two contests when the Czechs beat Canada in the Fed Cup.
But the leader of the team is Kvitova, who is now very strong, muscular and tall, though when she was first called up in the 2007 Fed Cup, she was only 18 years old and pretty thin. But by 2011, the left-hander was kissing the lines and overpowering most foes. That year, she won Wimbledon for the first time, swinging as hard as she could and in the final, surprising none other than the 2004 champion, Sharapova. That season, Kvitova also won WTA events at Brisbane, Paris Indoors, Madrid, Linz, and the WTA Finals.
But how about this: in Fed Cup that same 2011 season, the Czechs had to play away ties in three other countries: Slovakia, Belgium and Russia. Kvitova won all six matches. In the Olympic Arena in Moscow in the final, Kvitova was relentless and out-hit the cagey Maria Kirilenko and the two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Sharapova, who is leading the Russians and scheduled to play Kvitova on Sunday, knows how good she is: the Czech just beat her in the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Singapore about two weeks ago. When Kvitova gets on a roll, it is hard to stop her.
“She’s a very aggressive player,” Sharapova said. “She has a lot of depth and power. She goes for her shots. I think when she commits to her game and she executes, it’s a very powerful game.”
Since 2011 in Fed Cup, Kvitova has 20 wins and two losses. Last year in the final against Germany in Prague, she decided that she wasn’t going to push balls back and hope that her foes would go off. She went for the lines and came though, defeating the aggressive Andrea Petkovic and then the super fast Angelique Kerber, taking her out in one of the best matches of the year to win 6-4 in the third set for the title.
“It’s always a big motivation – especially when we are playing at home – always to show people,” Kvitova said. “It’s a little bit different when we are a team. Winning is the best feeling that you can have and we want to feel it again.”
Without a doubt, if the Czechs win once again, there will be dancing around and singing at the O2 Arena. However, in order to do so, they have to be spot on. Kvitova will have to face Makarova or Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday, and is 1-1 against each. Kvitova and Makarova (who has been injured but was ranked No.8 in the spring) split their two meetings in 2014 at Montréal and New Haven. This year, Kvitova bested Pavlyuchenkova in Madrid, but in 2013, the Russian beat the Czech in Brisbane.
Against Sharapova on Sunday, Kvitova would step on court knowing she has won their last two contests, both at the WTA Finals, but the Russian has six wins and four defeats against the Czech.
It should be an incredible clash and while Kvitova will be shaking a bit when she hits her first ball, the Czech will be the favorite at home in her beloved Prague.
“I am very excited that they are coming in full power, so that’s great, to have amazing final at home,” Kvitova said. “It’s going to be full again. It’s going to be a lot of nerves again. And exciting.”
