TWO-TIME Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has suffered a potentially career-ending injury after a knife-wielding burglar attacked at her home.
The Czech tennis star said she was “fortunate to be alive” before being transferred to hospital in Brno for an operation on her playing hand.
Czech police have said they are looking for a 35-year-old man carrying a small sum of money.
Prostejov police spokesman Frantisek Korinek said: “We have not been able to identify the culprit.
“She has received medical care.”
Kvitova has released a statement on her Facebook page thanking fans for their messages of support and saying she feels lucky to be alive.
Her publicist, Karel Tejkal, updated reporters earlier and claimed she wasn’t deliberately targeted by the attacker.
He said: “It was a random criminal act.
“It was just a half-baked crime. He tried not to deliberately injure Petra.
“She was assaulted in her apartment and is in the care of doctors, but her injuries are not life threatening.”
A sum of 5,000 Czech Koruna (£155) was stolen in the attack.
Kvitova also withdrew from the Czech Republic team at next month’s Hopman Cup mixed-team tennis tournament because of an earlier foot injury.
She is hoping to focus on next year’s Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne on January 16, and aims to return to action for a tournament in Sydney eight days earlier.
The former world number 1 has reportedly amassed a personal fortune of around £66million.
The horrific attack is the culmination of a couple of difficult years for Kvitova.
She missed a lot of the 2015 season with a viral condition known as mononucleosis.
Earlier this month, she spoke about her recovery from the illness, saying: “I am definitely more aware of what I can and can’t do now.
“I try and look at it in a positive way and focus on what I can do rather than what I can’t.
"I was feeling tired when I woke up in the morning, then tired all day, so I didn’t have the energy I need to train properly.
"I am now more aware of the mental side of things, so that is positive."
In December 2015 she got engaged to Czech ice hockey player Radek Meidl but the couple split up in May this year.
26-year-old Kvitova is now ranked number 11 in the world and won an Olympic bronze medal in Rio this year.
The attack brings back chilling memories of the stabbing of Monica Seles in 1993.
The former Yugoslavia and United States tennis player was stabbed at a tournament in Hamburg by a crazed fan of rival Steffi Graf.
Seles won the three French Opens, two Australian Opens and a US Open, as well as reaching the final of Wimbledon, before she turned 20.
But she never fully recovered from the attack, winning just one further Australian open, in 1996.
Seles wrote in her 2009 autobiography: "I remember sitting there, towelling off, and then I leaned forward to take a sip of water, our time was almost up and my mouth was dry. The cup had barely touched my lips when I felt a horrible pain in my back.
"My head whipped around towards where it hurt and I saw a man wearing a baseball cap, a sneer across his face. His arms were raised above his head and his hands were clutching a long knife. He started to lunge at me again. I didn't understand what was happening."
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