Tennis Wimbledon
“Whether it’s up to the generation” – Petkovic laments the lack of talent
Status: 12.07.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Andrea Petkovic now works for the German Tennis Association
Source: pa/dpa/Marcus Brandt
German women’s tennis is on the ground, no player is among the top 50 in the world. And improvement hardly seems in sight. The density of talent is too low, says ex-player Andrea Petkovic. She’s worried.
The former tennis player Andrea Petkovic worries about the offspring of the German women. “What I notice is that there are still great talents, but we have much, much less,” said Petkovic on the sidelines of the Wimbledon lawn classic, where she played in doubles with Frenchman Henri Leconte at the Legends Tournament: “In my generation we were ten, twelve or 15, and then four or five emerged from that, which then became good.” However, this is no longer the case.
“I don’t know exactly what it is. Whether it’s the generation or the fact that competitive sport doesn’t arouse as much desire as it used to,” explained the former number nine in the world. The pressure on the few talents is inevitably higher. “That doesn’t make it so easy for them. But there are still great talents with a lot of potential,” said Petkovic.
Funny doubles: Petkovic and Leconte at Wimbledon
Quelle: pa/ZUMAPRESS.com/Mathias Schulz
In fact, German women currently play no role in world tennis. “We are not where we want to be,” said head national coach Barbara Rittner in June: “It is not our claim in tennis Germany that we only have two women in the top 100.” In the top 50 is none at all, the best placed is 35-year-old Tatjana Maria in 62nd place.
The difficult year of Jule Niemeier
After the end of her career, Petkovic now works as a mentor for the German Tennis Association. In this function she also acts as a consultant for Jule Niemeier. The 23-year-old from Dortmund is having a complicated season after her breakthrough last year when she reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. At the Grand Slam tournament in London she was eliminated in the second round against the unknown Hungarian Dalma Galfi. “It was clear to me beforehand that this year would be difficult for Jule. Because last year she flew under the radar a bit,” Petkovic said.
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You and Angelique Kerber would still have played in 2022 and attracted a lot of attention. That is no longer the case. “I think that’s quite normal and that you have to give her this year. But next year she has to build on the performances she has already shown,” Petkovic demanded of Niemeier, who is currently only number 103 in the world.
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