Petra Kvitova highlights challenge of constantly facing young stars
2023 Miami Open champion Petra Kvitova admitted it is 'tiring' to constantly face the rising young generation of tennis stars on the WTA tour. Kvitova beat one of the biggest young talents on the tour, Elena Rybakina, to clinch the Miami Open title on Saturday.
Kvitova snapped Rybakina's 11-match winning streak and also her chance of winning the Sunshine Double this year by bagging her 30th career title. The Czech tennis great won a marathon opening set tiebreak 16-14, before cruising along in the second set to win her maiden Miami Open title 7-6(14), 6-2.
Speaking after the match, Kvitova admitted that winning the title meant even more as it came with a win against a highly in-form player like Rybakina, who is one of the young stars of the sport.
"Yeah, of course this means a lot. The young ones are coming up all the time. It's tough to really face them all the time (smiling). It's very tiring," Petra Kvitova said in a press conference after the final.
"Elena is young, as well. So, yeah, it's still tough to compete, of course, with all of them," the Czech added.
Kvitova, 33, also highlighted that her vast experience of competing in finals eventually helped her greatly in getting over the line against Rybakina on Saturday.
"I think the experience today played a good role in my mind, to be honest. I played so many finals. I know I can play well in the final no matter who I'm facing. So that's I think mentally was very important for me to know that from all experience," Kvitova added.
"Best feeling what you can have" - Petra Kvitova after winning Miami Open title
Petra Kvitova expressed her sheer delight at experiencing a 'winning feeling' again after clinching the 2023 Miami Open. Kvitova's love for the sport keeps her going and she feels constantly motivated to keep improving and achieving more success. The two-time Grand Slam champion has now won nine WTA 1000 titles and is only the fourth player since 2009 to win as many WTA 1000 events.
"I love the game, but I think is the motivation to do something better, and because I had a lot of ups, as well, that's always been the motivation to have them again," Petra Kvitova said on the same.
"I think this is the best feeling what you can have, winning a final as I did today. That's I love the most, the winning feeling of it."
Kvitova is set to break into the Top-10 once again when the new round of WTA rankings is released on Monday.