A post from Oct 2011: Wimbledon Ladies' Champion 2011

Petra Kvitova has a difficult name to pronounce and If you are a critic, your criticism of the new Wimbledon Ladies' Champion will struggle to go beyond that. The 21-year old athlete from Czech Republic has the most amazing tennis skills. Her unusually accurate forehands and the ability to hit the widest angels of the court remind another Great of the bygone era, John McEnroe. Her opponent of the day, Maria Sharapova was completely flummoxed by the long and accurate returns that the new winner inflicted on the Russian's usual long serves. Apart from a brief period at the early phase of the 2nd set, Sharapova had no answer to the relentless accuracy of the 21 year old. Such was her dominance and maturity of her tennis that it is safe to proclaim that the sporting world has found a new hero and she has more than enough talent to win a few grand slams in her career.

On the more personal side of things, the new Champion is tall, slender, good looking and she does not grunt (you have to go quite a few years in the past to find another one)! But, the most amazing trait of the new Wimbledon queen is, she is completely cool under all the attention and her calmness resembles someone who knew her destiny beforehand. The great Martina Navratilova, herself from Czechoslovakia, and also Jana Novotna were present in the royal stand to inspire Petra; so was Anna Hathaway, leading the glamour parade that a final in Wimbledon can expect. However, at the end, it was the cool and confident tennis of the newly crowned 'queen' and her modest demeanor that will dominate the tennis headlines until the next Grand slam!