Kvitova playing on despite glandular fever

 

Originally published on 11/08/15

Heather Watson, Christina McHale and Roger Federer have all suffered from mononucleosis, or glandular fever, during their careers, while Robin Soderling has not played since being diagnosed with the disease in 2011.

"At first I was a little bit scared," Kvitova said. "I didn't know if I could play the US tournaments this summer or maybe if I could play at all for the rest of the season. On the other side I think it's positive news. I know now why I'm still tired and feeling so bad. That's the good news for me."

The world No.4 has been cleared to play at the Rogers Cup in Toronto this week, but she admits the diagnosis makes sense after a frustrating season.

After skipping Indian Wells and Miami with fatigue, Kvitova won the Madrid Open in May but surprise defeats to Timea Bacsinszky and Jelena Jankovic at the French Open and Wimbledon respectively have been put into context by her recent news.

“I had a sore throat and wanted to kill it so I had antibiotics after Wimbledon,” said Kvitova, who missed the Aegon International at Eastbourne with the same problem. “Unfortunately I didn’t kill it and that’s why it showed my immune system was low. So I had more tests and it showed up.”

"It's tough when I'm looking back," she added. "Many things are clearer now. But of course I'm not sure if I don't have mononucleosis that I'm going to play well. That's not something I can say. I still had chances to win anyway. Maybe I can just see why I felt tired."

 

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