US Open 2021: Andrea Petkovic - The tennis trip goes into overtime
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- 08/03/2023
Andrea Petkovic will continue her career after the US Open 2021. "It's still my life," said the German after her second-round defeat in New York.
by Jörg Allmerothlast edited: 03.09.2021, 03:36
When the foothills of Hurricane Ida flooded New York and triggered a state of emergency in the mega-metropolis, Andrea Petkovic was already in her dry hotel room in the Manhattan canyons. An important, landmark day lay behind Petkovic, who lost her second-round match to friend Garbine Muguruza at the 2021 American Open Championships, but at the same time made a momentous decision. Petkovic said she will continue to travel the world in the tennis circus in the future, "I want to keep playing because I feel good and I'm on the best side." Nothing can yet replace the feeling of marching onto a court like at the US Open and "a hard duel" to fight: "It's still my life, the most beautiful thing for me. And 33 years isn't old either."
Petkovic has worked hard for the good feeling and the optimistic view of the near and middle tennis future. For a long time, in this again complicated Corona season, one's own perception of strength and the results at work did not really match, the southern Hessian trained diligently, had the impression "that I was on the right track", but at the tournaments she hardly ever won more than one or two matches. "I was very frustrated and said to myself: This has to get better, otherwise it's over," says Petkovic. Petkovic had even aimed for the US Open as the final stop in her career, which has lasted for almost a decade and a half, also because she considers the "Big Apple" to be "something like my second home".
Petkovic's career has always been a motley affair, a constant ups and downs of results and emotions. And who was really surprised that the long-time national player managed an amazing turn shortly before the possible farewell and was suddenly able to confirm the good training performance in an emergency. "All of a sudden it clicked, I was back in business," says Petkovic. At the new WTA tournament at Rothenbaum in Hamburg, she reached the final and won a tour competition in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, for the first time in six years. "And then," says Petkovic, "you walk through the tennis world in a completely different way." She climbed up to 68th place in the rankings, within reach of the elite players.
The journey continues for Petkovic
During the Corona era, tennis didn't always seem like the whole kingdom of heaven for the Darmstadt native, who at times even found it difficult to determine whether she was still practicing her sport professionally operation. Petkovic worked on her autobiography in 2020, she was often seen on television as a reporter or presenter. She even reported herself about the difficulties of sport in general and tennis in times of the pandemic - and thus somehow about her own conflicts. “I noticed that I really enjoy my other roles. But my heart is still most attached to tennis," says Petkovic, who worked again in New York with her long-time coach Petar Popovic.
New York plays a prominent role in Petkovic's tennis years, but also in her personal life. Ten years ago, against the advice of the doctors and her worried father, she fought her way into the quarter-finals with a knee injury, but paid for the risky performance with later physical problems. “I love the city, the people. I have more friends here than anywhere else," says Petkovic, "the US Open was never a normal tournament for me, a tournament like many others. I always want to play particularly well here.” Even after her quite honorable loss in New York against the two-time Grand Slam winner Muguruza, Petkovic was only partially satisfied: “Keeping up well is not enough for me. I've discovered a lot that I still need to improve," said Petkovic, "but it's also a good sign that it annoys me and I care." And so the journey continues, initially more and more.
Here is the women's individual tableau
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