Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon Champion - Can I Feel Smug?!

On the first day of the women's main draw matches at this year's Eastbourne tournament, a taxi driver told me he was considering taking his young son to the event. He asked me what they could expect to see with a ground pass that day. I told him that, among the attractions of the matches on the outer courts were some reasonably big name women players. I explained that a ground pass gives you access to part of Court One as well, and that one of the players scheduled to play there was Petra Kvitova. I said, "She's not hugely well-known if you're not an avid follower of tennis, but she could win Wimbledon."
I wonder if I was allowed to feel very smug today, as Petra was outhitting Maria Sharapova to strorm to stardom in the Wimbledon final.
The truth, of course, is that I was far from the only person tipping big things for the 21-year-old Czech left-hander. And, although I thought she was marginally ahead of Victoria Azarenka in being the most likely finalist from the bottom half of the draw, after the defeat of Venus Williams, before today's match I was picking Maria Sharapova as the most likely champion. I thought Maria was the slight favourite for the title from the start of the tournament. Lindsay Davenport made the same prediction, but shrewdly changed her mind before today's match.
Many other pundits, like me, persevered with the Sharapova pick. I didn't, however, agree with a couple of commentators who last night described it as Maria's match to win or lose. I thought it was more likely the other way round, as Kvitova has a little more in her game, but I wondered whether, when push came to shove, she was really ready to take her first Grand Slam title here and now. I thought she might well make too many errors, like she did in the Eastbourne final.
I'm happy I was wrong. She played an exhilirating match, at times the tennis was electrifying from both players, although Sharapova didn't produce enough of her best to make it a classic. But Petra's triumph over any gremlins that could have hampered her from playing her glorious game in the Wimbledon final was a joy. And a very positive sign for the future of women's tennis. Her game continues the new tradition of huge aggression off both forehand and backhand sides, as pioneered by Monica Seles, and extended by the likes of Lindsay Davenport and the Williams sisters, but adds some extra variety and flair, showing that maybe Martina Hingis and Justine Henin's brief periods of domination have left some kind of legacy.
The prediction now from several pundits is that Kvitova's Grand Slam triumph is "the first of many". That phrase has been banded about whenever a relatively young player has won a debut Major. More often than not, it seems, their career doesn't turn out to be as trophy-laden as predicted. There is, however, more reason in this case to believe we're talking about a multi-Grand Slam career. But that possibility is way too far in the distance to try to look at in close-up focus now. Wimbledon Champion 2011 is a pretty good achievement, to say the least.