Podcast Podcast, Season 3, Episode 12: Petra Kvitová on the secret to her long-lasting career

There are moments when time stands still. Moments where you find yourself on the verge of greatness. Moments that stand the test of time. The Edge is a series of conversations where extraordinary people tell intimate stories of one moment that changed everything for them. A world record, a world championship, an epiphany, a life-changing decision. They relive their moments, minute by minute. How they overcame pressure, fear, pain and pushed themselves to the limit. To The Edge.

Our guest today is tennis player Petra Kvitová. With a long-lasting and ongoing career, during which she has won 31 singles trophies, including two Grand Slam titles, Petra is talking to us about her progress over the years and her hopes for the future. She tells us her thoughts on her 2023 season and relives the emotions and excitement of her first Wimbledon win in 2011. Petra also shares the secrets behind her long-lasting career and success, as well as the challenges that have come with it, and how she overcomes them. Presented by your host Teo Van Den Broeke, this is The Edge, a podcast by TAG Heuer.

Here are a few snippets to put you on the starting line and get the adrenaline pumping. But don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast so you can listen to the full, unfiltered episode later. The Edge is a series of conversations with extraordinary people operating at the edge of possibility. It’s about the thin line between taking part and tipping into victory; it’s about what gives us our edge and what we can do to go beyond it.

I think it’s an everyday practice, every day thinking about what you are eating every day, fitness, everything that as a professional athlete you do have to do.

I think I’m thinking a little bit more about everything that’s happening before the match. Even during the match. When I was younger and started on the tour, I was fearless. I didn’t think that much. I was a newcomer so I just played against the better ones and always tried to take risks. And over those years, I changed a little bit as a player and as a person as well.

I think it was the US Open. I’m not sure which year it was. 2009 to 2010. I beat Dinara Safina in the third round of the US Open, and she was number one in the world.

It was a big surprise for me, for my coaches, my family, for everybody. I would say that year I was number eight.. That’s what I remember. And I wasn’t the favourite at all. Actually, in every match I played somebody who was the favourite.  It was  like how can I even think I’m  going to win. So I didn’t really think too much, to be honest. And when I started to play, I just played amazing. And I won it and I couldn’t believe it, to be honest. So it was really a surprise. Happy. All the mixed emotions, I would say.