Article snippet: LONDON — After just two tournaments back on tour after a knife attack that damaged her primary playing hand, Petra Kvitova has completed an improbable transition from sentimental favorite to oddsmakers’ choice. The third event of her comeback will be Wimbledon, where she won her two Grand Slam singles titles, in 2011 and 2014. Kvitova, a 27-year-old left-hander, is the No. 11 seed and will play Johanna Larsson, 28, of Sweden in the first round Monday. After an intruder at Kvitova’s home in the Czech Republic sliced her hand in December, she underwent surgery and months of rehabilitation, then returned to the tour earlier than expected — at the French Open in May. Kvitova won one match on the clay at Roland Garros, then dominated on grass, her favorite surface, last week in Birmingham, England. She lost only one set there on her way to winning the Aegon Classic, a premier-level WTA tournament. Kvitova is eager to play down her chances. “I think you should stay low, as well, with your expectations about me,” Kvitova said with laughter in an interview last week as she prepared for Wimbledon. “I’m not in as great form as I was in ’11 or ’14. It depends on everything, and in Birmingham I played better and better every round. Who knows how everything will be here? So I’m still down to earth. I’ll just play.” The betting world took a different view. According to the aggregator Oddschecker after the Wimbledon draw Friday, Kvitova was the 5-to-1 best bet, if not an overwh... Link to the full article to read more
Petra Kvitova Keeps Her Wimbledon Expectations Low. Oddsmakers Disagree. - The New York Times
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