When the last ball was hit and the last word spoken and the spectators stood up and applauded on the Bad Homburg Center Court, the tears came. Andrea Petkovic had kept his composure for an hour beforehand. Whether it was her last walk into a packed tennis stadium, the recording of the most emotional moments of her professional career on the big monitor, the following short singles and doubles matches with dear colleagues and the short interviews in between: the Darmstadt native left the meaning of her very last appearance first roll off like sweat under the scorching hot sun.
But when she was confronted with an old interview in which she said she was just a tennis player and hadn’t accomplished anything else, viewers responded with thunderous applause. The 35-year-old fell over with so much affection, her hands searched for the wet eyes under the peaked cap. “When I first walked in, I was emotional. But I had to focus on not embarrassing myself playing tennis,” said Andrea Petkovic.
“But I miss the competition”
Of course, the Darmstadt resident did not make a fool of herself, on the contrary. She won the match tie-break against her professional colleague Anna-Lena Friedsam 10:4, even if her opponent, who competes in the main draw at the Bad Homburg WTA tournament, did not exhaust her potential. Petkovic also played concentrated in doubles alongside her long-time companion Angelique Kerber, even though she beat the last forehand of her tennis career against Rainer Schüttler and Friedsam on the other side to make it 9:10.
The only occasional problem was with the serve, although the Darmstadt native had prepared meticulously for her last appearance as usual. “I’m one of the fittest tennis grannies in the world,” she said later, laughing. She doesn’t cry after the drudgery that comes with professional tennis: “But I miss the competition.”
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A farewell game at the beginning of a tournament doesn’t happen every day. But for Andrea Petkovic an exception was gladly made on Sunday, especially at the Bad Homburg Open almost on her doorstep. Family, friends and 3,500 spectators gave the Darmstadt resident, who won seven WTA titles in her professional career and reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2014, a warm farewell. The training with his daughter was sometimes “complicated”, said father Zoran Petkovic on the sidelines of the event, she was just “a perfectionist”.
For a while last year, Andrea Petkovic struggled with whether she should continue in the professional circus or whether she should rather put down the racquet. However, the signals from the body were clear. “I had to work harder to stay the same,” she said in retrospect on Sunday: “I made the jump at the right moment.”
Petkovic calls herself “tennis pensioner”
Before the US Open last August, she had indicated her farewell on social networks by speaking of the “last dance”. In New York she lost in the first round to Swiss Belinda Bencic after a hard fight. When, after the 884th match of her professional career, it became clear that Petkovic would never again show his fist or dance on the court, many eyes watered. But with her last official match, Petkovic was a little overshadowed by 23-time Grand Slam tournament winner Serena Williams, who said “bye-bye” in New York with much greater Bohei.
It’s not as if Andrea Petkovic, as a self-proclaimed “tennis pensioner”, doesn’t have enough to do. On the one hand, she writes regular columns for a weekly newspaper and on her second book, which is expected to be published at the end of this year or early next year. She can also often be seen on television, in Germany as a presenter of the “Sportreportage” on ZDF or at Grand Slam tournaments, such as recently in Paris as a tennis expert at Eurosport; worldwide as a commentator for the Tennis Channel based in Los Angeles.
At the very end, she can’t quite hold back the tears. : Image: Imago
In addition, the 35-year-old has committed to serving the German Tennis Association as a mentor for younger players. It should support talented people, stand by them in courses and tournaments. The former ninth in the world rankings cast a special eye on Jule Niemeier: Petkovic recently accompanied the 23-year-old from Dortmund in Paris and at the lawn tournament in Berlin. “I don’t get bored,” said Andrea Petkovic.
But it’s getting a little more boring for the German tennis fans, who now have to do without an ambitious and successful, smart and articulate player. “The world of tennis is turning so fast, I didn’t expect to be remembered like this,” said Andrea Petkovic after her farewell gala in Bad Homburg. No, the memory of “Petko” won’t fade anytime soon. The Darmstadt native will take care of that herself.
