Petra Kvitova sends Eastbourne victory joke to her team ahead of 'Wimbledon storm'

Eastbourne champion and twice Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova was in a jokey mood after her straight sets triumph at Devonshire Park on Saturday.

Kvitova clinched the Eastbourne singles title for the first time with a dominant display against defending champion Jelena Ostapenko at the Rothesay International.

Kvitova – a beaten finalist here in 2011 – controlled a one-sided encounter as her pin-point return never allowed her Latvian opponent to find a rhythm en route to a 6-3 6-2 win.

Victory for Kvitova brought a 29th career singles title and a big confidence boost for the 32-year-old ahead of a first-round Wimbledon meeting with Italian Jasmine Paolini on Tuesday.

After sealing match point, the Czech player thanked her team and admitted she she has “not always been easy” to be around during some inconsistent form this year.

“I had to make a joke for them,” said the newly-crowned Eastbourne champion, in an exclusive interview with Sussex World.

"I have not always been easy to around. Yeah. Not always having good thoughts, I would say.

"[I have] Struggled this year, up and downs and not thinking positively sometimes.

"But I did not mean I'm not nice to them, I hope! But sometimes it's not easy in practice, you know like I'm complaining, I don't want to do this or that, I mean, I'm a girl, right!

"But it was just for them, my team, I made a joke for them.”

Kvitova dropped just one set this week as she saw off two British players Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart, plus Croatian Donna Vekic and then Beatriz Haddad Maia in Friday’s semi.

"It has been busy, every day a match and my team are with me all the time as well, they need to enjoy it as well. It is not just about me.”

The former world No 2 is due to play at Wimbledon on Tuesday but admits she has not even looked at the draw and did not want to know who she’s going to play as she wanted to take time to enjoy the Eastbourne win.

"Don’t tell who I’m playing,” she said with a smile, with the Eastbourne trophy gleaming by her side. “I have not looked at the draw. I will have a rest and then go again, for sure.