By Erik Gudris | Friday, April 4, 2014

 

After some early season struggles, Andrea Petkovic is returning to winning form with a new coach and new outlook this week in Charleston.

Photo Credit: Christopher Levy

Andrea Petkovic is back on track this season after reaching the Family Circle Cup semifinals in Charleston. The always-gregarious German admits her fine form this week is a relief after a slow start to the year that also included a big coaching change.

"I'm just really happy, especially after the two tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami where I really thought, and I changed my coach, obviously, and I expected everything going really well, and then I played bad in Dubai and Doha and Indian Wells, and Miami I played a little better, but there was just this streak that I'm not used to of losing so early, because I'm used to winning at least two, three matches and then losing to the top players, but it was a really tough few weeks for me in the past," Petkovic said on Friday.

A former top 10 player, Petkovic parted ways in February with her long-time coach Peter Popovic who she became good friends with as well. Needing a fresh perspective, Petkovic teamed up with Eric van Harpen at the suggestion of German Fed Cup coach Barbara Rittner.

"With Peter I was with for so many years, and I miss him in my team because he's such a positive energy, but you know, sometimes when you're also really close friends, you lose that coach player relationship, and so I felt like I needed a change, and now I think I'm happy with everything."

With solid results this week in Charleston that includes defeating Lucie Safarova in the quarterfinals, Petkovic now finds herself into a Premier WTA semi for the first time since Beijing three years ago.

READ - Bouchard, Petkovic Reach Charleston Semis

Another part of Petkovic's resurgence is being healthy again after yet another injury setback last season that saw her fall out of the top 150. That includes training less and not trying to play through pain like she did earlier in her career.

"I guess, because before I was this machine that when I felt pain, (I said) 'I don't feel pain, I'm Robocop'," Petkovic said with a laugh. "I just went through everything, and now when I feel something I immediately say, listen, I don't know, my arm is hurting. Maybe I should take a day off or something. And that's helped me. And also, I'm just trying to be in balance with my body all the time."

At age 26, Petkovic is enjoying yet another comeback but is also glad her days of being awestruck in the early part of her career are over when she would first see players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams at events.

"It takes a lot of energy being in constant awe when you are looking around, oh, my God, it's Serena," Petkovic admitted. "So now I am much more relaxed, and I know all of these players; and it's my life. You know, that's my life. The tour is my life, part of my life, and I love it. Sometimes I hate it, but most of the time I love it, and so it's nice to have this peace with the tour and just being able to enjoy it most of the time."