US Open 2021: Andrea Petkovic - The tennis trip is being extended
Andrea Petkovic will continue her career after the US Open in 2021. "It's still my life," said the German after her second round defeat in New York.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit:
Sep 03, 2021, 03:36 am
When the foothills of Hurricane “Ida” submerged New York and triggered an emergency in the mega-metropolis, Andrea Petkovic was already in her dry hotel room in the gorges of Manhattan. An important, groundbreaking day lay behind Petkovic, although she had lost her second round match against friend Garbine Muguruza at the Open American Championships in 2021, but at the same time made an important decision. In the future she will continue to travel around the world in the tennis circus, said Petkovic, "I want to keep playing because I feel good and I'm on the best." Nothing can replace the feeling of marching on a court like the US Open and To fight “a tough duel”: “This is still my life, the best thing for me. And 33 years isn't an age either. "
Petkovic has worked hard for the good feeling and the optimistic view of the near and medium tennis future. For a long time in this again complicated Corona season, the own perception of strength and the results at work did not really match, the southern Hessine trained hard, had the impression "that I am on the right track", but at the tournaments she hardly won more than once one or two matches. "I pushed a lot of frustration and said to myself: It has to get better, otherwise it will be over," says Petkovic. Petkovic had already targeted the US Open as the final stop of her almost decade and a half career, also because she regards the “Big Apple as“ something like my second home ”.
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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 another amazing turn shortly before the possible departure and was suddenly able to confirm the good training performance in an emergency. "Suddenly it clicked, I was fully in business again," says Petkovic. She reached the final at the new WTA tournament at Rothenbaum in Hamburg and won a tour competition for the first time in six years in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. “And then,” said Petkovic, “you run through the world of tennis in a completely different way.” In the ranking, she climbed up to 68th place, within reach of the elite players.
The journey continues for Petkovic
In the Corona era, tennis did not always seem like the whole kingdom of heaven for the Darmstadt-born student, who in the meantime even found it difficult to determine whether she was still doing her sport professionally. Petkovic worked on her autobiography in 2020, she was often seen on television as a reporter or presenter. She even reported herself on the difficulties of sport in general and of the tennis business in times of the pandemic - and thus somehow also about her own conflicts. “I noticed that I have a lot of fun with my other roles. But my heart is still most attached to tennis, ”says Petkovic, who was back in New York to work with her long-time coach Petar Popovic.
New York played a prominent role in Petkovic's tennis years, but also in her private life. Ten years ago, against the advice of doctors and her worried father, she fought her way into the quarter-finals with a knee injury, but paid for the risk 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 honorable New York defeat against two-time Grand Slam winner Muguruza, Petkovic was only partially satisfied:“ Keeping up well, that's not enough for me. I've still discovered a lot that I have to improve, "said Petkovic," but it's also a good sign that it annoys me and I don't care. "And so the journey continues, first and foremost.
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