By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday August 30, 2022
Andrea Petkovic fell in three sets to dear friend Belinda Bencic, closing the curtains on her Grand Slam career.
Photo Source: Getty
Flushing Meadows, NY—Serena Wiliams is not the only much-hallowed champion calling it quits after this year’s US Open.
Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, a former World No.9 who reached the semifinals at Roland-Garros in 2014 and completed the quartet of Grand Slam quarterfinals, has ended her Grand Slam career in emotional fashion on Tuesday in New York.
The 34-year-old Bosnian-born fan favorite fell to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic on Day 2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, but left the court feeling satisfied that she was able to make her last Grand Slam match a trademark effort.
Tears were not spared, however.
“Once it got going, I felt like I was in the match,” Petkovic told reporters in a teary press conference after the match.
She said she was thankful that she had the chance to end her career facing Bencic, a longtime friend.
"I could already see when she was walking up to me, she had tears in her eyes, she was crying," Bencic said. "Of course in this moment you also realize what a big moment is for her.
The hug felt very good because, of course, I wanted to make it as nice as possible for Andrea. I think the fans did, for sure. They were chanting and cheering for her. It definitely was a very nice moment, which she deserved. She played amazing today and throughout her whole career."
“I was glad that it ended like this, with Belinda, somebody I love and respect so much,” she said. “Also that I could bring to the last match everything that I brought to my career, which was grit and tenacity and just respect for the game and for my opponents.”
After the contest the pair exchanged a warm embrace at the net, and Petkovic took a turn waving to the crowd, who resorted to spontaneously letting go a long round of booming “Petko!! Petko” cheers as the German gathered her gear at her chair.
It was yet another emotionally moving moment from a player who spent her career creating unique memories. From her gonzo journalism while embedded with the band “Tennis” to her well-known Petko Dance, Petkovic possessed unmatched charisma on the WTA Tour, which says a lot in a tour full of personalities.
She was offbeat, in-depth and always thoughtful. She honored the game, fought her heart out and when it was her time to say goodbye—injuries had virtually crippled her progress over the last few seasons—she met the moment with fresh tears and a refreshing honesty.
“I think for me I still love the game, still have a tremendous amount of passion for the game,” she said. “It's more the body that is not allowing me to play tennis anymore in a way that I want to play it, train the way I want to train, just play a full season really.
“The last four weeks I've just been playing with painkillers and antiinflammatories. That was just the part that made me decide not to continue anymore, not the lack of passion or want for the game. So I think that was the saddest part in a way.”
Petkovic informed reporters that she had plans to retire well before the tournament, but when she learned that Serena Williams was playing her last US Open a few weeks ago, she decided it would be of no use to make a public statement.
She did that this week in a German television interview, and says it made things easier on her, but not by much.
“I was like, I kind of owe it to my fans to say this might be the last tournament,” she explained. “I just decided, Okay, in two days I'm going to post something on social media. The next morning I wake up, my phone is blinking too crazy, and the Serena Vogue piece came out. Okay, nobody will care.”
She was wrong about that. The tennis community cares deeply about its personalities just as much as they do its world-beating, Slam-gobbling mavens. Well, almost as much. And Petkovic played with a joy and respect for the game, which always kept the purists happy.
She’ll be remembered as a gritty warrior, and that will make her happy as she contemplates the next phase of her life.
“I always fought for every point,” she said. “I always was the most professional I could be. I always invested in my body. I always trained the hardest and the best I could. I was always open to new forms of training, trying new things. Then most importantly, I think that's the most important to me, is just the respect for the game and the respect for my opponents. I always felt so grateful to be part of the WTA.”