Czech tennis player Květa Peschke, who helped her country win the Fed Cup on Sunday is to retire from the top women’s team event. “Květa Peschke (CZE) announced her Fed Cup retirement at last night’s official dinner,” a tweet on the Fed Cup’s official webpage announced on Monday.
Doubles specialist Peschke teamed up with Lucie Hradecká in the final and deciding fifth rubber against Russia in Moscow on Sunday, which the Czechs took 6.4, 6:2. That gave the Czechs 3:2 in matches and Fed Cup victory for the first time.
“We feel fantastic. It was an unbelievable experience for us after so many years. It is a really amazing feeling. It is tough to describe,” Peschke said in an interview carried on the Fed Cup website after the game. “ I have been playing for this team for 13 years. I am so proud of that and for all the girls and organization. It was a fantastic week. We are so, so happy we did it this time. ”
‘It was an unbelievable experience for us after so many years.’
Czech players last got their hands of the silver trophy in 1988 when the former Czechoslovakia defeated the Soviet Union.
Peschke, 36, who lives in the US state of Florida, has been playing Fed Cup tennis for her country for 13 years already. She is ranked the world’s number two women’s doubles player in the WTA rankings and this year picked up the Wimbledon doubles title with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia. She was running up in the French Open with the same partner in 2010.
Peschke’s deep doubles experience was always likely to give the Czechs an edge if the tie came down to the deciding doubles. The Czechs went twice up in the tie when Petra Kvitová took her singles games, though the 21-year-old Wimbledon singles winner had to come from a set down and 0:3 in the third set. She eventually beat Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova 4:6, 6:2, 6.3. Kvitová has been playing Fed Cup tennis for her country since 2007.
The Fed Cup triumph featured on nearly all the front pages of Czech dailies on Monday with in-form Kvitová getting much of the credit. She said she cried at the end of the deciding doubles game, which the Czechs won on the fourth match point.
Kvitová admitted she had been ill during the run up to the finals, running a high temperature on one day. She said she did not for a moment consider the prospect of not taking part in the final.
The world’s number 2 ranked woman tennis player says she will now take some time off from the game, telling the Czech daily Sport that she is looking forward to either staying at home in the Czech Republic or going to a spa resort with her Czech 17-year-old professional tennis playing boyfriend, Adam Pavlásek. He is still playing tournaments, so any dates will have to be coordinated, Kvitová said.
A message of congratulations was sent to the Czech team from head of state and tennis fanatic, President Václav Klaus.
Doubles trump card
Russia, which went into the Fed Cup final as a slight favorite in spite of Kvitová’s blistering form which resulted in her winning the WTA Championships tournament in Istanbul a week earlier, suffered a serious setback in its preparations. A day ahead of the first match, top player Vera Zvonareva, ranked number seven in the world, announced her withdrawal due to a shoulder injury. She was replaced by Elena Vesnina, who partnered Maria Kirilenko in the deciding doubles match.
Fed Cup winners the Czech Republic face a tough opening defense of their title against Germany in the world group of the women’s tennis competition in Stuttgart, Germany, on February 4 and 5.
Kvitová should have enough time to recover from 2012’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, being played from January 16-29. Her triumph at the start of 2011, when she got to the quarterfinals in the event after earlier triumphing in the Brisbane International tournament, was the launch pad for what has since been a fairytale year for the Czech player.
