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By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Natasha Peterson / Corleve

Petra Kvitova Stares Towards the court

(April 18, 2012) For Petra Kvitova, it must feel good to be back home.

After a rocky couple of months that included an Achilles injury followed by illness and then backed up with early round exits at Indian Wells and Miami, Kvitova is looking to resume her winning ways with a home event in Ostrava as her Czech team faces Italy in this weekend's Fed Cup tie.

“Where we are playing it is only twenty minutes by car to my birth city, so I will have a lot of fans there," Kvitova told FedCup.com about the upcoming tie against Italy. "For Davis Cup (the arena) is always full and now we are playing Fed Cup there, we hope it will be full again.”

Since losing her match against Flavia Pennetta the last time the Czechs played Italy back in 2010, Kvitova has risen as high to No. 2 in the world, won Wimbledon and led her fellow Czech teammates to the Fed Cup title last year. But Kvitova knows it won't be easy against a solid Italian team led by former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and the rising talent of Sara Errani who currently has two titles under her belt this year.

“It will be good revenge," said Kvitova. “Last time when we played against them we lost 5-0, so it wasn’t really a good result and we have bad memories from this.”

Kvitova is probably hoping to also erase the unpleasant memories of her last two months on tour that saw her struggle healthwise and continue her dismal record in events played in America. Kvitova admitted after her loss to Venus Williams in Miami that she wasn't at her best fitness wise, something she hoped to change with an intensive training program she took part in over in Turkey before heading back to her country for this weekend's event.

Despite her recent woes, Kvitova is still a heavy favorite to do well not only this weekend at Fed Cup but in next week's tournament in Stuttgart, especially since both events will be played indoors giving Kvitova an opportunity to extend her unbeaten 27-match win streak on indoor courts.

After several months away on what is the neverending road trip that is the WTA tour, a week at home may be just what Kvitova needs not only to recharge her batteries but her game as she enters the most important part of the year.

 

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