Petra Kvitova’s preparations for the Australian Open, which started Jan. 16, took a big hit in the semifinals of the 2012 Sydney International. A complete meltdown by the reigning Wimbledon and WTA Tour champion allowed Li Na to recover from 1-6, 1-3 down to win their semifinal match 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in just over two hours.
Petra arrived for her match against Li Na brimming with confidence. Having just won the Hopman Cup team competition in Perth on January 7 (representing the Czech Republic with Tomas Berdych), she easily dispatched Daniela Hantuchova (6-0, 6-4) in their quarterfinal match the day before, and seemed to be on an unstoppable path to the finals and, potentially, the No. 1 ranking.
As the semifinal match began, she was quickly up 3-0 against her Chinese opponent within the first 10 minutes, hitting winners at will from both her forehand and backhand wings. The pace and depth of her shots was overwhelming for Li Na. Petra was allowing her absolutely no way to get into the match. The only thing she could do was watch as the barrage of winners flew by. Forehand, backhand, serve. Every part of Petra’s game was firing on all cylinders. I’m sure everyone thought the match would be done in under an hour at most. And then, the wheels fell off.
At 1-3 down in the second set with her back up against the wall, Li hit upon a strategy that worked to perfection. Corina Morariu of the Tennis Channel made note of it as she observed Li Na finally finding her range and beginning to play most of her shots down the middle of the court straight at Petra. By doing this she was able to take away two of Petra’s greatest strengths: the angles she likes to create, and the ability to hit winners on the run.
Petra, listed at 1.82m on the official WTA site, is one of the taller women on the WTA tour, possessing long legs and a long arm span. She prefers to hit shots on the run, and it’s a bit easier for her to do so – often to devastating consequence. But as balls came back at her down the middle of the court, often with as much pace or more than her original shot, she was often unable to get out of the way in order to have a good play on them.
As the second set progressed, Petra’s footwork and technique began to disappear almost in their entirety. First set winners became second and third set errors. And the confidence she exuded at the start of the match disintegrated to frustration and tossing her racquet. It was as complete of a meltdown as has been witnessed on the WTA Tour in quite some time by one of the top players.
For all of Petra’s strengths and championship muster, there has been talk about her mental strength in these types of tough matches. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated summarized it best by saying “Petra Kvitova has the tools for success, but her mental strength is unknown” (1/11/2012 Mailbag). It’s a sound point given that she won Wimbledon 2011 with a stellar performance over Maria Sharapova, then was largely absent from the US hardcourt swing leading up to and including the US Open.
Her late season success at the WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul was noteworthy. Two weeks later she helped the Czech Republic to their first Fed Cup victory. Coming back from the off-season she had immediate success at the Hopman Cup to start the 2012 season on a winning note (while also poised at the cusp of the number one ranking). But all of that hardly matters now after losing a match where she could barely hit a decent forehand or backhand without needing to say a prayer for it to land inside of the lines.
To be fair, Li Na kept her head into the match long enough to settle her strokes and claw her way back into contention. As Petra’s groundstrokes became more erratic, Li Na began to look more and more like the player who was a finalist at the 2011 Australian Open and the champion at the 2011 French Open. Petra may have buckled, but Li Na played with guts and optimism even after a first set drubbing.
Petra Kvitova could easily be the star of the 2012 WTA season if she plays with confidence. If she doesn’t, it could be a long season that will look very much like her semifinal loss in Sydney.