A severe injury to her left hand from a knife attack will force two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova out of the Australian Open next month.
Kvitova injured her hand defending herself during the attack at her Czech Republic home and had four hours of surgery on it.
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Kvitova undergoes hand surgery after knife attack
World number 11 Petra Kvitova has been injured in knife a attack in her home.
She was already set to miss the Hopman Cup, in the lead-up to the Australian Open, due to a stress fracture in her foot. But the attack and subsequent surgery means she will now miss at least three months of tennis while she recovers. Kvitova was also due to play in the Sydney International.
The tennis star sustained damage to the tendons in her left hand, along with injuries to all five fingers and two nerves.
Her manager Katie Spellman told BBC that Kvitova will wear a cast for six to eight weeks and cannot bear weight on the injured hand for at least three months.
Kvitova underwent nearly four hours of surgery on her playing hand. The operation revealed that the left-handed player's injuries were "serious," but "there's no reason to think she wouldn't be able to play tennis," her publicist Karel Tejkal said.
Kvitova will, however, miss the Australian Open and a significant part of the season as she won't be able to fully train for at least three months, Tejkal said.
The 2011 and 2014 champion at the All England Club said she considered herself lucky to have survived the attack on Tuesday morning in the eastern Czech town of Prostejov.
"In my attempt to defend myself, I was badly injured on my left hand. I am shaken, but fortunate to be alive," Kvitova wrote on Twitter.
In an earlier statement on the Facebook page of the Czech Republic's Fed Cup team, Kvitova said: "What happened to me was certainly not pleasant, but it's behind me. I have the best possible care and I'm in touch with my loved ones. The worst is behind me."
Police spokesman Frantisek Korinek said the attacker, a man who is about 35 years old, escaped from the scene and was at large. He said police have launched a manhunt.
Kvitova was scheduled to participate in a charity event in the city of Brno on Tuesday with another Czech player, Lucie Safarova.
"It's horrible," Safarova told Czech public radio. "Things like that are shocking to all of us. It can happen to anyone of us. That's really terrible."
Agencies