London: American Madison Keys will be rooting for Petra Kvitova to win Wimbledon after the Czech two-times champion made a remarkable recovery from injuries sustained to her playing hand during a knife attack at her home in December.
Kvitova returned from her injury layoff at the French Open in June and went on to win the pre-Wimbledon Aegon Classic in Birmingham. The world number 12 opened her Wimbledon campaign with a 6-3 6-4 win over Swede Johanna Larsson on Monday.
World number 18 Keys, who beat Japan`s Nao Hibino in the first round, told tennis.com that Kvitova`s comeback made her emotional and believes that the Czech`s strength on grass could see her clinch a third Wimbledon title.
"Every time I watch her play now, I`m like an emotional wreck... I try not to watch too many of her matches. But it`s an amazing, amazing comeback. I don`t think there`s a nicer person that all of us are cheering for," Keys said.
"It`s Petra... Pretty much any time she`s on grass you`re like, `Yeah, she could win`.
"She`s such a champion. I`m not really surprised. I`m really happy for her. I mean, who better to win it than Petra?"
Keys faces Italy`s Camila Giorgi while Kvitova takes on American Madison Brengle in the second round on Wednesday.