Wimbledon • Petra Kvitová Loss And A Look Back At Monica Seles

A huge round of applause for two brave tennis veterans – Petra Kvitova, a 2011, 2014 Wimbledon singles champ, and Monica Seles, a 1992 Wimbledon finalist who won 9 major singles titles. Both young women survived brutal attacks, dealt with post-traumatic stress, apparently recovered and rejoined the WTA pro tour. I watched Kvitova show great tenacity yesterday as she bowed to Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 4-6, 6-4, 0-6, in Wimbledon’s first round after suffering the effects of a severe knife injury to her dominant left hand at her home in December of 2016. And I can still see the image of Seles sustaining a similar career threatening injury in April of 1993. I was writing on a tennis deadline while watching a pro tournament in Germany, and I was shocked as I saw Seles survive a piercing back stabbing knife attack during a changeover. Seles returned to the tour two years later and I zoned in on her great courage, watched her smiling in the 1996 U.S. Open awards ceremony next to Steffi Graf in the midst of a major thunder and lightning storm after she surrendered to Graf, 5-7, 4-6, in the final.