Petra Kvitova's attacker gets eight-year jail term

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic celebrates match point against Caroline Garcia of France during day 8 of the Miami Open presented by Itau at Hard Rock Stadium on March 25, 2019 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Pic/AFP

The man who attacked two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova with a knife at her Czech home in December 2016 was sentenced to eight years in prison on Tuesday, a court said.

"He got eight years in a tight-security prison," Eva Angyalossy, a spokeswoman for the regional court in the southern Czech city of Brno, told AFP. The 33-year-old Radim Zondra, who is currently in prison for another crime, was sentenced on charges of serious battery and an illegal entry into Kvitova's flat. Angyalossy said that Zondra and the prosecutor had two weeks to appeal the verdict. Zondra pleaded not guilty.

The 29-year-old world number two Kvitova suffered career-threatening injuries to her playing left hand as she fought off the intruder at her home in the eastern Czech town of Prostejov.

Police said the attacker did not know whose flat he was entering after pretending to be a technician checking boilers. Kvitova, who has identified the attacker, is currently playing at the Miami Open, facing Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals later on Tuesday.

Despite grim forecasts by doctors, who even warned she might lose her fingers, the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion has recovered and continued her successful career. Kvitova, who slumped as low as 29th in the world after the attack, reached the Australian Open final this year and is eyeing the world number one spot, which she could take from Naomi Osaka in Miami.

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