Andrea Petkovic’s Grand Slam career came to an end on Tuesday (08/30/22) at the US Open with great emotions. Against Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, the 34-year-old delivered a big fight in the first round despite physical problems and then spoke for the first time really about the reasons for her resignation – repeatedly interrupted by tears.
Already on the way to the net the first tears rolled down the cheeks. At the net there was a hug from opponent and friend Belinda Bencic for a few seconds. It was the Olympic champion from Switzerland who, a few moments later, asked her opponent to get up from her bench. So, despite the loss, Andrea Petkovic shuffled toward center court and received her well-deserved standing ovation on court number seven in the sweltering Queens afternoon summer heat after more than 15 years of professional tennis.
She then left the adjoining square to loud “Petkovic, Petkovic” calls. An employee of the American Tennis Association paved the way for her through a crowd of German and international fans. They saw a person struggling with his emotions, feelings and tears and yet patiently writing his last autographs. It was an overwhelming situation – for everyone involved.
A few meters further, the German fell into the arms of ex-pro Rennae Stubbs, who had been waiting for Petkovic. Together they ran the few hundred meters across the facility into the depths of Arthur Ashe Stadium, past the press center in the direction of the players’ area. The Australian wrapped her right arm around Petkovic in the final meters. It was no longer just the first tears that fell.
Once again with “bite, tenacity and respect for the game”
It was the last, highly emotional moment in Andrea Petkovic’s active career, on Tuesday afternoon after 2:11 hours with 2: 6, 6: 4 and 4: 6 in the first round of the US Open against the 14th seeded world class player Belinda Bencic lost. As so often in the past few years, she did so in the late autumn of her career, unsettled and with great struggle.
She was happy, she said later in the largest press conference room at the US Open, that in the last match she was able to retrieve everything that had characterized her career: “Bite, tenacity, and yes, just respect for this sport and my opponents.” She did, admittedly, after a terrible start with eight lost points in a row on the hot Hartcourt in Flushing Meadows actually manage.
In sets two and three, “Petko” dictated the match at times with her dreaded flat attacking shots and often pushed Bencic into the corners thanks to an improved first serve. “What do people know you for? What do you stand for? For fighting! Running after every ball! Never give up!” She pulled herself together after the start, said Petkovic. “That’s how I want to be remembered.”
The elbow reported despite painkillers
Unlike in previous seasons, when this attitude in the early Grand Slam rounds still resulted in one or the other surprise success against seeded players, in set three, despite a large number of painkillers and injections, her malady elbow reported at the decisive moment, the has been chronically painful since Wimbledon and caused her great problems. A double fault and an avoidable mistake and she had conceded the decisive break to 4:5; Bencic kept his nerve with a sovereign service performance. An ace ended Andrea Petkovic’s career on the big tennis stage.
The Darmstadt native, who has also had a residence here in New York for years, also struggled with her tears and emotions in her media rounds. She paused several times to gain time for herself.
She felt great emotions, cried during and after every training session. “One day it was even five hours. Just pure, pure sadness, which can sometimes be nice. It wasn’t even really negative, just very exhausting.” Then she stopped, the tears fighting their way back. “I still love this game. It’s more about the fact that my body no longer allows me to play and train tennis the way I want to.”
Because of the end of his career: Petkovic broke off the TV interview
On Sunday, Petkovic even canceled a first TV interview with the sports show. She does not feel ready to speak about her resignation in front of the camera, but had the upcoming resignation sent in writing.
Since the spring Petkovic had had to take breaks again and again, had to reduce the training intensity, then the elbow problems followed. “And if I was in rhythm, like in Hamburg, then I win two matches and then an injury occurs during the match.” So the decision to tell her fans came about just as Serena Williams announced her retirement in Vogue. Then she thought: “Well, nobody cares anymore anyway”, she said and laughed heartily.
This is how Andrea Petkovic can best be remembered – as an entertainer away from the tennis courts. Sure: There is the former world-class player, who made it into the top 10 (9th place, 2011), made it into the semi-finals in Paris (2014), who with Germany in Prague in 2014 was defeated by the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup and who fought back in 2014 after several serious injuries and triumphed in Charleston and won four more titles. A success that she highlighted again on Tuesday.
Niemeier cries too
Much more will be missing, however, the eloquent interlocutor, who was driven by the form of the day and emotions, who turned media rounds into philosophical excursions, who always opened up and, despite her many commitments in recent years (moderator, columnist, book author), contact person for the next German generation remained.
Above all for Jule Niemeier, who was the only German to make it into the second round of the US Open yesterday and thus partially confirmed her Wimbledon run into the quarter-finals. Petkovic is a kind of mentor to the 22-year-old, with whom she also played doubles. “I shed a few tears too,” explained Niemeier after her success on the night of New York. “Because we’ve known each other for a long time and I’m extremely sorry.”
Petkovic would have done the young Germans a lot of good, especially in the absence of the already reserved Angelique Kerber due to pregnancy. But physically it was no longer possible.