Happy Birthday: Kvitova, Taylor, Vujacic

Sport360 staff 08:42 08/03/2017
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  • There are few things undisputed in tennis, but one of them is that when Petra Kvitova is on, she is almost unplayable.

    The Czech two-time Wimbledon champion, who turns 27 today, plays the kind of ‘boom-boom’ tennis that makes one just sit in awe while watching.

    The powerful lefty turned pro in 2006 and claimed her first title in Hobart in 2009. Kvitova reached the French Open fourth round on her grand slam main draw debut then beat the then-world No1 Dinara Safina in the third at the US Open the following year.

    She was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2010 after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals and claimed her first grand slam at the All England Club in 2011, beating Maria Sharapova in the final.

    She won the WTA Finals that season and added a second Wimbledon in 2014 and Olympic bronze in 2016.

    Other sport stars born on this day

    1942: Ann Packer, English former track and field athlete, who won Olympic gold and silver in 1964 (75).

    1954: David Wilke, Scottish ex-swimmer, who won three breaststroke Olympic medals in the 1970s (63).

    1984: Ross Taylor, New Zealand cricketer, former national captain and his country’s highest ODI century maker (33).

    1984: Sasha Vujacic, Slovenian basketball player, who plays as a shooting guard for the New York Knicks (33).

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