Petra Kvitova's Wimbledon Loss Shows How Difficult It Is to Win Multiple Slams

Jelena Jankovic's victory over Wimbledon defending champion Petra Kvitova on Saturday demonstrates how difficult it is to win multiple Grand Slams. 

Stunned, after her match Kvitova was still at a loss when she spoke with BBC Sport: "I'm not really sure what happened. I was just missing it. It was really unusual or weird. I was still waiting for some chance, and it didn't come unfortunately."

With her title defense over, Kvitova falls back into the pack of Slam winners with borderline credentials for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Winning two Slams may be enough to get you in. Anything over two is an automatic. 

However, winning more than two is tougher than you think. 

Serena Williams (20), Venus Williams (seven) and Maria Sharapova (five) are the only active singles players on the WTA Tour with more than two Grand Slam championships. On the ATP Tour, only Roger Federer (17), Rafael Nadal (14) and Novak Djokovic (eight) have more than two titles.

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With talk of Serena pursuing 22 and the Big Four accounting for 41, it's easy to see how people might take winning multiple Slams for granted. 

Despite going out in the fourth round at the French Open, Kvitova seemed in peak condition and the perfect position—the opposite side of the draw from Serena, Venus, Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka—to defend her Wimbledon title. 

Instead, she goes out in the first week. 

Andy Murray, the weakest link in the Big Four, has been chasing his third Slam title since Wimbledon 2013. Federer last won a Slam in 2012. Venus won her last Slam in 2008.

Yet fans and media pundits alike talk about veteran Slam-less players as if merely hanging around should guarantee them a shot. How often do you hear about poor David Ferrer...great career, but no Slams?

Lleyton Hewitt lost in the first round, in what he says was his final Wimbledon. Baring a miraculous performance at the U.S. Open, Hewitt will leave the game with two paltry Slams. Slacker.

Kvitova could be headed for a similar fate. Yes, she's young, but so was Hewitt when he won his second Slam. He had two by age 21. 

It's time to show multiple Slam winners more respect. A nice start would be at Wimbledon, where officials have dissed Venus all week.

Venus, a five-time winner and eight-time finalist, has yet to play on Centre Court. That's just downright ridiculous. Sharapova last won Wimbledon in 2004, and even she's been on Centre Court. Marin Cilic, winner of one Slam, got to play never-gonna-happen-Slam winner John Isner on Centre Court.

Perhaps the officials overseeing scheduling at the All England Club also take multiple Slam winners for granted. You'd think that people from a country that waited 77 freaking years for one of their gents to win Wimbledon would appreciate how difficult it is to win these things.

Ask Djokovic, who dusted off Nadal on the clay only to have previous one-Slammer Stan Wawrinka snatch away the French Open title. Djokovic wanted that title so bad that he cried. Who can forget Federer's "God, it's killing me," reaction to losing the 2009 Australian Open to Nadal?

Federer already had 13 Slams but was desperate to tie Pete Sampras. Federer knew, like Kvitova found out today, that winning Slams is hard, especially for those who already have a few. Everybody is gunning for you. You are rarely the underdog, so the crowd turns on you too.

Yesterday, Serena barely survived a match against a woman who has never advanced beyond the third round. Now she faces her sister ,and if she beats her she'll have to take on Azarenka. It Serena survives that she'll likely get Sharapova in the semifinal just for a chance to play for the title. This stuff is not easy. 

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Just ask Jankovic, Kvitova's Slam-less opponent. A former world No. 1, Jankovic reached the U.S. Open final against Serena Williams in 2008. She had reached the quarterfinals in 2007 and the semifinals in 2006. A quick, feisty shot-maker, Jankovic, we thought, would be back. Nope, no finals since. 

Perhaps we need to consider these things in our debates about a player's greatness. Some fans dismiss so easily Djokovic's eight Slams. They mock Nadal's nine French Opens because they happened on one surface.

Think about Tomas Berdych, Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Caroline Wozniacki, all players with stellar careers who have reached a Slam final but never won. 

Give folks like Ana Ivanovic, Francesca Schiavone, Juan Martin del Potro and Cilic, the one-Slam wonders, a break. 

Nadal, Hewitt, Kvitova, Kuznetsova and Ivanovic, are all gone home. That's 21 Slams, out in the first week. Monday, Serena or Venus will lose. That'll be 20 or seven more out of the picture.

That's tough.