The 2014 Australian Open has just barely begun but already the tournament is over for former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
Her recent struggles at Grand Slam level continued with a three-set loss to Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum in the first round.
After dropping the first set 6-2, it appeared as if Kvitova was only getting started in her bid to win a second Grand Slam title, as she steamrolled through her inexperienced opponent to take the second set in a breadstick (6-1) and force a deciding set.
And after the first seven games of the final set went to serve, it was Kumkum who appeared to make the breakthrough, breaking the Czech at 4-3 in the final set to take a 5-3 lead.
But to Kvitova’s credit, she would break back to 5-4, only to get broken back, subsequently losing 2-6, 6-1, 4-6 and thus being sentenced to her first opening round exit at a Grand Slam since the 2011 US Open, and first at the Australian Open since 2009.
So where has it all gone wrong for Petra Kvitova?
It’s hard to believe that this is the same woman who stunned Maria Sharapova to win Wimbledon two-and-a-half years ago.
In the ensuing time period since, the left-hander has failed to live up to her potential and once again her inconsistency was exposed in yet another early exit from a Grand Slam tournament.
Her opening round exit at Melbourne Park marks the ninth time in the ten Grand Slam tournaments that have passed since that glorious day at the All England Club in 2011 in which she has lost to an opponent ranked below her.
This includes the last seven Grand Slam tournaments consecutively, a streak which started at Wimbledon in 2012 when Kvitova had her crown taken away from her by Serena Williams, who, by eventually winning the title, would embark on her current never-ending winning crusade, which has now extended into the early part of the new year.
Of these losses, none was more disappointing than the one she suffered against Marion Bartoli at the US Open in 2012.
Kvitova had entered their fourth round meeting having won their previous meeting by a pair of chopsticks (6-1, 6-1) on her way to winning the Rogers Cup just recently and looked on track to reach her first New York quarter-final after winning the first set by 6-1.
But from there it would all unravel and she ended up losing 1-6, 6-2, 6-0.
It was a disappointing end to Kvitova’s US Open series, which had seen her win the aforementioned Rogers Cup, as well as the New Haven warm-up event in Connecticut.
It has been more than eighteen months since she was last ranked in the top four.
In fact, at the beginning of 2012, she was only a victory or two away from being ranked world number one on the eve of the Australian Open, where she would eventually reach the semi-finals.
But while Victoria Azarenka would eventually win that tournament and reign at the top of women’s tennis for the better part of the next 12 months, Kvitova would never recover from that lost opportunity and by September last year her ranking had dropped to eleventh, out of the Top 10 for the first time since May 2011.
Without any rankings points to defend from this stage in 2012, Kvitova would then win the prestigious Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, reach the semi-finals in Beijing and also reach the final four at the WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul.
Those strong results saw her rise to her current world ranking of number six, which will not be bettered if Agnieszka Radwanska successfully defends her Australian Open quarter-final points from last year.
The form that Kvitova showed after the US Open in 2013 continued into the new year, whereby she went undefeated at the Hopman Cup and then reached the semi-finals in Sydney, losing to the eventual champion Tsvetana Pironkova when a path to a 12th career title looked clear.
Her good form leading up to the 2014 Australian Open saw her identified as one of the big threats for the title, but instead her first round exit will leave her wondering when her next Grand Slam title will come.
It’s harsh to label Kvitova as a one-Slam wonder, as I know she is capable of winning another Grand Slam title in the near future.
But unless she starts cutting down on the number of early losses and upsets to unheralded opposition at major tournaments, her career will start relating to the likes of Gabriela Sabatini and Jana Novotna, who were only good enough to win one Grand Slam title in their careers.
Among the present players, Ana Ivanovic, Li Na and Samantha Stosur also remain stuck on one Grand Slam title, though out of that three, only Li appears a genuine chance at winning another Slam in the next 12 months.
Furthermore, Kvitova must also learn how to consolidate pre-Grand Slam form, such as in 2012 when she came to New York having dominated the US Open series with two titles, only to crash out a round short of the quarter-finals.
Looking at the rest of the year, and as a result of her poor performances at most major tournaments over the last 12 months, the world number six will have numerous chances to raise her ranking higher in 2014.
She will have to defend titles in Dubai and Wuhan (the official name of the title she won, the Pan Pacific Open, is being relocated there from Tokyo this year) and will only have to defend a pair of third round showings from the French and US Opens.
Other than those, the most important result she will have to defend is a hat-trick of quarter-final appearances at Indian Wells, Wimbledon and the Rogers Cup.
Thus, the chances of Kvitova reclaiming a place in the world’s top four (or at least protecting her place in the top ten) remain very high, but if that is to happen, as I have already mentioned, she must cut down on the number of upset losses and start beating opponents that she’s supposed to beat.
Furthermore, if she can seriously challenge Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka to a great degree, her confidence will raise up a notch and the form that saw her reign at the All England Club in 2011 will return.
But with the form that both players have shown in recent times, especially in the last six-to-eighteen months, it’s hard to see their stranglehold on the Grand Slams and major tournaments ending anytime soon.
However, if there’s anyone that can poke a hole into their dominance, it’s Kvitova. All she needs to do is believe in herself and believe that she can beat them. Her time will come, as well as that of Maria Sharapova’s, Li Na’s and Agnieszka Radwanska’s, to name a few.
For now, though, Kvitova will spend a few sleepless nights dwelling on yet another Grand Slam failure and she must be wondering hard when her next major breakthrough will come again.
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