Petra Kvitova confesses she loves tennis now more than ever while conceding her surgically-repaired left hand "will never be" 100 percent again.
The victim of a horrific home invasion last year, Kvitova suffered stab wounds to her left hand that required a three-and-a-half hour surgery in December.
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Kvitova, who still lacks feeling in one finger on her racquet hand, said she hopes to regain her form in the next couple of years but does not expect her hand to fully recover.
"I mean my hand is not 100 percent. It will never be actually," Kvitova told the media in Birmingham. "So it's going to take one year, two years when everything will set up. I'm happy I didn't have to change any techniques or any differences in my racquet or anything like that. So that's important for me to know that I'm trying to play as I did before. And now it's just about the practices and about the matches. So we'll see."
Kvitova's family and friends wore black t-shirts emblazoned with the words: "Courage, Belief, Pojd", a Czech word for "come on" in a show of support in her comeback match at Roland Garros last month.
Playing her first match since November, Kvitova cracked 31 winners, including nine aces, powering past American Julia Boserup in her Roland Garros opener.
Back on her beloved grass for this week's Birmingham event, the two-time Wimbledon winner says time away from tennis as she recovered physically and emotionally from the frightening attack has deepened her love for the sport.
"I didn't want a break, but as you said, somebody took it from me," Kvitova said. "And it wasn't my truth, but I'm always trying to look positive on the things, so everything bad is for something good. So I feel that I am maybe love tennis even more than before because I know what it means for me. And I always know why I'm playing this sport and always love competing, and I missed the fight and I missed adrenaline during the matches. So I'm happy that I have it back."
Parting can be painful. Kvitova's reunion with the sport gives her a sense of gratitude she is healthy enough to play the game.
"There was time when nobody ever know if I were able to play again, so I'm more appreciated about this time," Kvitova said. "And probably even if I lose, I will always smile and to be happy that I'm back. So that's kind of different."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy