Two-time champion Petra Kvitova returns to Wimbledon after receiving wild card
Petra Kvitova returns to Wimbledon this season as she continue to make a comeback from her 17-month long maternity leave. Kvitova had sat out the entirety of the 2024 season, with her first son being born when the Championships were underway.
The Czech had won the tournament 2011 and 2014. She is the only non-British player on the initial list of wildcards. Former World No.2 Kvitova is currently ranked 572nd. She began her comeback from a 17-month maternity break in February and lost in the opening round of the WTA 500 event on grass at Queen's Club earlier this month.
Kvitova had won in 2011 after beating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. She went on to the WTA Championships that year on her tournament debut and also led Czechia to victory in the Billie Jean King Cup, then called the Fed Cup, that year. It was the country's first such title as an independent nation.
Kvitova's second Wimbledon title came in 2014 when she beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 in the final. Kvitova was forced to take a lengthy break after suffering multiple lacerations to the tendons and nerves on her left hand and fingers while trying to defend herself during a robbery at her apartment in Prostejov, Czech Republic.
The other seven players with wild cards for the women's draw include British players Heather Watson, Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage, while Dan Evans is among seven British players given a wild card for the men's draw. One more men's wild card is due to be announced 'in due course,' organizers said.
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