Czech Athlete of the Year

Reigning Wimbledon women’s tennis champion Petra Kvitova has been rewarded for her performances by being awarded the Czech Athlete of the Year Award, an award that is given out on the basis of popular votes from the country’s journalists employed in the sports field. Kvitova beat off competition from Jaroslav Kulhavy who won the cross country race in the Mountain Bike World Championship and the speed skating champion of the world Martina Sablikova, who finished second and third in the votes polled respectively.

The 21 year old Czech tennis beauty has been in marvelous form for the last couple of seasons, which culminated in her beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the final at Wimbledon to become the first left handed player since the legendary Martina Navratilova and also the first Czech player in 14 years to win a Grand Slam title. She also became the first tennis player from her country to win the WTA Championships and many people have already started rating the current world number 2 as a potential legend of the game.

The journalists voted for Petra Kvitova on the basis of these two wins as well as the part she played in the Fed Cup team for the Czech Republic leading to the country’s first triumph in the tournament. Kvitova has been in scintillating form, particularly in the 2011 calendar year that saw her winning 6 singles titles as well as the WTA Championships and she was by far the highest climber of the year when she jumped from number 34 in the world rankings to 2^nd place.

Kvitova is currently being seen as the only credible contender to Caroline Wozniacki and her reign as the number one player in the world and with the season beginning down under in around two weeks’ time, there is every chance that she will take her crown from her.