LONDON (AP) — Winning her first Grand Slam title three
years ago at Wimbledon has made it that much easier for Petra Kvitova to
handle the aftermath of her second at the All England Club.
There
she was, sitting among yet another group of journalists wanting to ask
her, probably, the same questions she had just answered in the roomful
she faced minutes before.
It was three hours after she had
completely dominated Eugenie Bouchard in the Wimbledon final Saturday — a
time frame three times longer than her 6-3, 6-0 victory over the
Canadian.
But the 24-yearold Czech player was there smiling, joking and looking like she was reveling in the
moment.
"I
mean I am enjoying this more already than my first one," Kvitova said.
"The first time, I didn’t know how it would feel, I didn’t know what to
expect."
The expectations were what got to her after her 2011
title win here — on and off the court. People thinking she would win
every time she picked up a racket. New sponsor endorsements that took up
more of her time, and fan days and media commitments at every
tournament she played.
She managed for a time — 2011 was a banner
year with six tournament wins, including the season-ending WTA
Championships. But frailties began to show in her game, culminating in a
poor 2013 at Grand Slams — Wimbledon was the only major at which she
reached the quarterfinals — and a slide in the rankings that nearly took
her out of the top 10.
It began to make her wonder: Could she win another major?
Enter sports psychologist Michael Safer, who Kvitova calls her "mental coach."
He helped make her believe that she could.
"It
took a lot of work," Kvitova said. "He helped me to handle the pressure
during matches, it was very difficult and something I really needed to
learn. I was playing well but something was missing, how I handled the
pressure in key moments."
On Saturday, Kvitova used that mental
toughness to transport herself into the "zone," a term often used by
athletes to explain how they play above and beyond their usual
performance levels.
Certainly the 20-year-old Bouchard witnessed it firsthand.
Dictating
points with her big serve, aggressive returns and flat groundstrokes,
Kvitova never let Bouchard get into the match. The Canadian looked down
at the ground on one occasion and raised two hands as if to ask what
could she do next to stop the onslaught.
The answer was nothing.
"She played unbelievable and didn’t give me many opportunities to stay in the rally," Bouchard
said, "or do what I do."
Kvitova even surprised herself.
"I
mean, a few shots (were) really incredible and I really couldn’t
believe that I made it actually," she said. "Maybe it was magic."
Asked
to explain the best thing that happened to her after her first win in
2011, she quickly said having a Wimbledon trophy to share with her
parents.
And now a second one to take home to the Czech Republic
the next time she visits her mother and father. Her dad, Jiri,
celebrated his birthday on Sunday.
"I can’t say that it’s more
special," she said when asked to explain the difference. "But definitely
after three years to stand here with the trophy again, it’s absolutely
amazing."
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