Petra Kvitova Wins First Match After Knife Attack: "It Really Wasn't About The Game Today"

Five months after a home invader attacked her and slashed her hand with a knife, Petra Kvitova won in her return to the court. The No. 15 seed beat the unseeded Julia Boserup 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the French Open today.

Kvitova originally planned to make her return at Wimbledon next month, but healing ahead of schedule allowed her to instead come back early. She was attacked in her Czech Republic home in late December, by a man who held a knife to her throat before she managed to pull it away with her left hand. The attacker has not been found.

She defeated Boserup relatively easily, recording nine aces and not showing any signs of difficulty with her surgically-repaired hand. Kvitova was left tearing up at an emotional victory, which she later said was about much more than the match itself: