By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, February 16, 2016
"Maybe that crisis actually made me work harder in the offseason because I really wanted sort of to make up for the lost time," said Andrea Petkovic.
Photo credit: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
When Andrea Petkovic reached a career crossroads last season, a rock star inspired her to ramble on.
Reflecting on the "midlife crisis" she endured late last season that left her questioning if she should continue playing, Petkovic said talking to friends and reading biographies of people who had navigated a career crisis helped her recommit to tennis.
Watch: Wozniacki Sizzles in Body Paint
"I also read a lot of biographies especially about people that were struggling around 27, 28, and watching a lot of biopics and movies," the 28-year-old Petkovic told the media in Dubai. "I could just identify myself with a lot of these people, and I think that helped me to get through it and to just see it really as a crisis and not as a matter of questioning my whole path that I chose in playing tennis, because I did choose it myself. It wasn't forced upon me.
"I think that was just a thing for me to realize and to recognize it as what it was, a crisis, and not, as I said, a questioning of why I'm here."
Guitar god and Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page was the muse who helped Petkovic through her malaise.
"Actually, Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin (inspired), he actually quit playing guitar when he was 28 exactly for a year before he came back and became a huge star, obviously," Petkovic said. "For me, that was maybe not the thing that I could identify most with but that made me realize most that it was just a crisis, because if you don't want to be a rock star, what else in life do you want to be? So I figured if he's going through a crisis, it's okay for me to go through a crisis as a tennis player."
Creating clarity from that dazed and confused state has Petkovic feeling she can find her form.
"A lot of things in my private life coming together, so now I'm just heading in the right direction again," Petkovic said. "I think maybe that crisis actually made me work harder in the offseason because I really wanted sort of to make up for the lost time."
Petkovic pounded Camila Giorgi, 6-2, 6-1, in her Dubai opener. She will play her good friend and frequent practice partner Jelena Jankovic for a quarterfinal spot.
The German's second straight victory over Giorgi, an opponent who has handled her in the past, gives her hope her offseason training is finally transferring to match play.
"I have worked on a lot in the offseason and I have been playing really well in the past couple of months in practice. I just wasn't able to transfer it into the matches," Petkovic said. "I think (beating Giorgi) was one of the first matches where everything came together, and what I really feel like is I'm getting back to the level that I had in 2011."