Pete Sampras called Centre Court "a tennis cathedral."
Petra Kvitova calls it her favorite Wimbledon spot.
Wimbledon: Women's Draw Winners & Losers
The two-time Wimbledon winner is most comfortable on the world's most prestigious court and that's one reason—along with her fierce, flat strikes, lefty slider serve and the fact she leads the WTA Tour with five titles and a 37-7 record this season—why Hall of Famer Chrissie Evert cites Kvitova as a Wimbledon favorite.
"As far as Kvitova, she's a player that has had the best form on the grass so far this year," ESPN analyst Evert told the media in a conference call to promote the network's Wimbledon coverage, which begins on Monday at 7 a.m. Eastern time.
"She's had a really good year," Evert said. "Again, another player who was out for a long time because of the injury on her hand. She came back and has that new appreciation for the game. She's always going to be dangerous on the grass.
"[Petra's] won Wimbledon twice. She has the serve to get you off the court. She likes the point to be short. She's fitter in her career than she's ever been right now, she's the fittest. She has to be considered one of the top two, three favorites, if not the favorite, to win Wimbledon."
The eighh-ranked Kvitova faces Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her Wimbledon opener.
Four years removed from her last Wimbledon title, Kvitova has been tagged as a favorite before, but she's not buying it this year.
"Well, I've been hearing this every year I'm playing Wimbledon, so it's not really anything special," Kvitova told the media today in her pre-tournament press conference. "I heard the same last year, as well, even I just played two tournaments. I didn't feel that way last year. Not either this year.
"I know how the Grand Slams are this year for me. I'm just here probably to try the best and kind of do the best result I can on the Grand Slam this year. I don't really feel as a favorite of the Wimbledon anyway."
It's been a remarkable season for Kvitova, who returned to tournament tennis at Roland Garros last year after she was victimized in a horrific home invasion stabbing that required surgery to her left hand. Kvitova still lacks full feeling in some of her fingers.
During her inspired comeback, the 28-year-old Czech drew on the inspiration of Monica Seles, who made a successful return to tennis after being stabbed in the back on court. Recently, the champions met for the first time.
"Of course, when that happened, I couldn't really think about the tennis," Kvitova said. "But when the time came I could play tennis again, of course, [Monica Seles] was one of the kind of inspiration which I had. We both came very tough time to come back to play tennis.
"It was just great to meet her actually. It was for the first time. We shake the hands. It was just great to see someone who came in the kind of similar situation as me. So was great."
Photo credit: CameraSport