With the 2016 Rio Olympics now roughly a month away, we take a look at the women’s tennis contingent for Czech Republic. The central European nation boasts a commendable field of athletes with the singles and doubles rosters being led by double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and two-time Grand Slam champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka respectively.
Kvitova and Pliskova headline singles field
Czech number one and world number 10 Kvitova will be playing in her third Olympics, her second in singles. In her first singles appearances in London four years ago, as the sixth seed, she made it to the quarterfinals, falling to eventual fourth-place Maria Kirilenko. Kvitova’s 2016 however has not gone as planned so far as she has only made one semifinal and one quarterfinal in Stuttgart and Indian Wells respectively, a sub-par performance from the former world number two.
World number 17 Karolina Pliskova will be making her Olympics debut. The 24-year-old has come a long way since 2012, making her top 10 debut and winning five titles. This year, the Czech has already reached two finals, coming out on top in Nottingham and finishing second best in Eastbourne. She has also made the semifinals of Indian Wells and Prague and the quarterfinals of Sydney and Stuttgart.
Veteran Barbora Strycova will be making her second appearance in singles and her first since her debut in 2004 where she lost to top seed and eventual gold medallist Justine Henin in the first round. The 26th-ranked Strycova is enjoying one of her best and most consistent seasons thus far, winning at least one match in every tournament entered except Hobart. She also has two runner-up finishes, two quarterfinal showings and two round of 16 appearances and along with those results, returning to the top 30.
The final entry in singles is 29th-ranked Lucie Safarova. Her best result at the Olympics came in 2008 when she made her debut. That year, she lost to Sybille Bammer in the round of 16. In 2012, she exited in the opening round to Laura Robson. The first few months of 2016 were trying times for the Czech after a bacterial infection stuttered her preparations for the season. Returning in February, she went winless in her first five matches before breaking the duck by winning the title in Prague on home soil.
Two doubles teams boost Czech hopes
The first team in the doubles discipline is the aforementioned fruitful pairing of Hlavackova and Hradecka. Together, the duo have two Grand Slam titles to their name, namely the 2011 French Open and 2013 US Open. In the last Olympics, they took home the silver medal.
Other achievements include finishing runner-up in Wimbledon in 2012 and at the Australian Open this year. They have also won a further nine titles together, the first coming all the way back in 2008. Hradecka is currently ranked world number 10 in doubles with Hlavackova just behind her at 11th.
Pliskova and Safarova complete the doubles line-up. Safarova is due for her third doubles appearance, having been paired up with the likes of Kvitova in 2008 and Petra Cetkovska in 2012, her only prior appearances in the discipline.
On Pliskova’s part, this will be her first ever appearance in doubles. Despite having no experience in the Olympics, her recent doubles exploits are a good sign for the team. In the deciding doubles rubber during the Fed Cup final against Russia last year, she alongside Strycova won the match in three sets which led their nation to its fourth title in five years.
More recently, they also led the Czech Republic in securing its semifinal spot after prevailing over opening round opponents Romania in the decisive doubles rubber as well. In the semifinal against Switzerland, Pliskova was the saviour of the Czech team once again. This time she partnered Hradecka to defeat the pairing of Viktorija Golubic and Martina Hingis in the deciding doubles match to send the Czech Republic into its fifth Fed Cup final in sixth years.