Petra Kvitova attacked: Tennis players who were victims of criminal violence

Modified Dec 22, 2016 13:39 GMT

BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 07: Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic returns a shot against Madison Keys of the United States during her Women's Singles Quarter Finals match on day seven of the 2016 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2016 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Etienne Oliveau/Getty Images) — Petra Kvitova was attacked in her house and sustained severe injuries on four fingers of her left hand

Anna Chakvetadze

Chakvetadze was robbed in her own apartment during the end of 2007

During 2006, a 19-year old Russian was gradually rising up the ranks in the WTA rankings and had created a couple of upsets by defeating top-ranked players Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova.

This young player was Anna Chakvetadze. In 2007, Chakvetadze had a very consistent Tour where she reached the quarter-finals of the Australian and French Open and the semi-finals of the US Open which resulted her in attaining a career-high ranking of World No.5. In addition to this, she reached the semi-finals of the Miami Masters and the semi-finals at the WTA Tour Championships.Just as Chakvetadze was at her peak, disaster struck for her as her house was robbed on 18^th December, 2007 by six invaders. Chakvetadze was tied and her father got beaten up by the invaders at the family home in Moscow.

The six men left with over 306,000 USD worth of cash and goods including a Rolex watch that Chakvetadze won in an exhibition match, which made implicit that Chakvetadze had been the target of the robbery. While leaving, the robbers said, "Keep playing. We'll come again." Though the invaders were arrested three months following the robbery, the robbery had affected Chakvetadze mentally as her form suffered a dip in the following years and she eventually retired from the sport in 2013, aged only 26.