The inside story on Petra Kvitova's comeback from knife attack

The two-time Wimbledon champion was injured during a burglary at her home in the Czech Republic just before Christmas but confirmed on Friday that she will back on the match court at the French Open which starts on Sunday.

However, her surgeon, Dr Radek Kebrle, who operated for almost four hours, revealed the chances of her being able to play again at all were “very low” in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

“The injury was horrific,” he said. “The chances of Petra’s hand healing well enough for her to be able to play tennis again were very low for multiple reasons.”

All five fingers on her racquet hand, the left, were damaged and there was a high risk she would suffer stiffness in her digits. There was a “substantial risk” that her tendons would rupture during recovery but, fortunately, that did not happen.

Also on the plus side, it was a clean cut injury and only two of the five fingers suffered nerve damage.

Hand therapy began just the second day after the attack with only two days – Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – skipped.

In January, Kvitova began light physical training and after 12 weeks she was able to start holding a racquet.

The 27-year-old returned to the practice court in Monaco earlier this month before being given the green light to resume her career at Roland Garros, where she has been practising this week.

“The realistic timeline for a return to tennis was six months after the attack and Roland Garros is very close to that, indeed Petra is ahead of schedule,” added Kebrle.

“Petra’s wounds healed uneventfully. (There was) immediate hand therapy, good team work.

“Then Petra as a patient was very co-operative and her coaches supported her and co-operated in the healing and rehabilitation process as well. Each member of the team had his or her role and it worked very well in co-operation.”

It was a tough period for members of ‘Team Petra’ but her coach Jiri Vanek could see from early in the process that Kvitova was determined to do all she could to return.

“I was surprised by how well she responded and how motivated she was to come back,” he said. “Her motivation was huge and although it was a tough experience, Petra was always inspired by the challenge of playing again.

“It was really tough for all of us, but Petra stayed strong. The first few months were the worst because we didn’t know how the hand would respond to work, but we were positive. When we couldn’t do anything with the hand David (Vydra, her fitness coach) did a lot of work on her fitness.”

As time went on, Kvitova – who also enrolled in a university communications and social media course during her enforced absence - was able to do more, bit by bit.

Vanek explained the how the recovery progressed.

“When she was able to hold something, we started to hold glasses, soft balls, just gripping them. Then we started to hold the racquet, from the beginning it was just for one minute and then we started to build up the time.

“We played with very soft balls from the net and then tried to move further and further back, closer to the baseline. Before she could grip the racquet we played with her right hand, we also played other sports like table tennis and badminton with her right hand. Then we started with backhands because the forehand was too difficult, serve too.”

Fitness guru Vydra was able to get to work earlier - and went into the recovery programme with the goal of making his player “stronger than ever”.

His work included 12-hour days for Kvitova in Lanzarote where she went for two training periods during her recovery.

“I was luckier than Jiri because I could start work earlier,” he said. “From the beginning, Petra started work on the bike and then, once the stress fracture in her foot had fully healed, we started to run slowly.

“Because of the surgery and foot (Kvitova had already been facing a battle to be fit for the new season with the latter problem) the body wasn’t prepared at all. We did some balancing exercises and when she was able to take the first cast off (after eight weeks) we started to move the fingers and the wrist.

“We did a lot of work, actually I was trying to use this opportunity to make her stronger than ever, especially when I saw how motivated she was. We tried to find the balance for everything, in tennis and fitness - actually it was fun for me.

“We tried to stay positive but of course there were some tough moments. She practised with her hand and body all day long. In Lanzarote, she started the day at 8am and finished everything by 8pm.

“I really enjoyed the work because I could see how she was improving and that made me happy. When she started work with Jiri on the court I could see how hard she was trying and, as a result, she is coming back much earlier than everyone thought.”

The road to recovery is now almost complete - Kvitova will play Julia Boserup in the first round of the French Open in the coming days.

It is sure to be an emotional occasion with her parents, Jiri and Pavla, plus her brothers, Jiri and Libor, due to be courtside for the match.

After such a long period out, expectations will be low, particularly on the clay surface which has always been regarded as the Czech’s worst.

However, the grasscourt season is looming and the popular star will be assured of a warm welcome at Wimbledon in seven weeks’ time.

The grass has always been Kvitova’s domain, as her Wimbledon wins in 2011 and 2014 show, and while a third title must be considered unlikely, it would no doubt be the dream ending to a remarkable story.