Just seven months after knife attack, Petra Kvitova is into Wimbledon second round

Petra Kvitova is continuing her remarkable comeback story on the Wimbledon grass.

As the kids say: “That escalated quickly.”

In December, Petra Kvitova injured in a home invasion and her career was in jeopardy. An assailant—still at large—stabbed Kvitova on the left hand (her dominant one) as she thwarted further attack. Kvitova made an emotional return at the French Open, but it was squarely a feel-good story. She lost in the second round to qualifier BethanieMattek-Sands. But after Kvitova won the Birmingham title last month, this morphed quickly into a tennis story.

Kvitova, a two-time champion, with a game ideally suited for grass, came in as a short-list contender and played ably in her opening match, making her way past Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-3, 6-4.