FULL VERSION 2011 - Kvitova vs Sharapova - Wimbledon

*******************************************************************
Tournament Copyrights -
© 2011 All England Lawn Tennis Club (Championships) Limited
*******************************************************************
AELTC is registered in England and Wales under company number 07546773 with its registered office at The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Church Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 5AE.
*******************************************************************
Rad to the Power of Cool Copyrights -
© 2022 PertSnergleman™ Channel
*******************************************************************

Thank you for your gracious use of this classic match!

Support us through Patreon!
  / pertsnergleman  

--------------------------------------------
PertSnergleman's Review:
--------------------------------------------

One might reasonably have expected Petra Kvitova, not Maria Sharapova, to be betrayed by nerves in the 2011 Wimbledon final.

This was, after all, Kvitova's first Grand Slam championship match, while Sharapova already owned three major titles, including one from the All England Club. So Kvitova decided to pretend she was heading out on Centre Court to play in the fourth round.

That mindset worked. So, too, did nearly everything Kvitova tried once play began, particularly her big, flat left-handed groundstrokes that pushed Sharapova back on her heels. In a surprisingly lopsided final, Kvitova beat the higher-seeded, yet shakier, Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 to win Wimbledon for her first Grand Slam trophy.

"I was surprised how I was feeling on the court," Kvitova said, "because I was focused only on the point and on the game and not on the final."

When she was a kid growing up in Fulnek, Czech Republic -- population: 6,000 -- and practicing an hour or so after school each day, Kvitova didn't count on becoming a professional tennis player. She simply wasn't that good, yet...

Clearly, she's a quick study.

Before Wimbledon in 2010, Kvitova's career record on grass was 0-4. She is 16-2 on the slick surface since, including a run to the 2010 semifinals before losing to Serena Williams.

At 21, Kvitova is the youngest Wimbledon champion since -- you guessed it -- Sharapova was 17 in 2004. Kvitova is also the first Czech to win the tournament since Jana Novotna in 1998.

Plus, Kvitova is only the third left-handed woman to win the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. The last was Martina Navratilova, who won her ninth Wimbledon title in 1990, a few months after Kvitova was born.

Consider: Up to this match, Sharapova had won all 12 sets she played in the tournament. But, as Sharapova's coach Thomas Hogstedt summed up afterward: "One played well. The other didn't play well. Maria didn't play as good as she can."

That was, at least in part, Kvitova's doing.


Enjoy!