Andrea Petkovic, 34, says she still loves the game but admits it’s her body that is simply not allowing her to be at the level where she would want to be. On Tuesday, Petkovic played her final Grand Slam and the final tournament of her career.
Petkovic competed extremely well against Belinda Bencic but the 13th-ranked Swiss won 6-2 4-6 6-4. “I think for me I still love the game,” Petkovic said. “Still have a tremendous amount of passion for the game.
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. It was fitting for me that I lost to a very young player. To somebody that’s the future of tennis, so that felt fitting.
I did feel this year also for the first time that my narrative has been told, I think I brought everything to the game that I had to give. Obviously it’s not in an amount as Serena, but in my own little world, I feel like I brought everything to it and my narrative was done.
That was also part of it, that I just felt like I didn’t have anything more to give.”
Petkovic on how she wants to be remembered: For my grit and tenacity
Bencic was the big favorite to beat Petkovic in the US Open first round and she managed to do so.
But Petkovic didn’t go without a big fight and made Bencic work hard for the win. That’s how Petkovic wants to be remembered. “I think I would love to be remembered just what I mentioned in the beginning, the way I played the match today, which was always with grit and tenacity,” Petkovic said.
“I always fought for every point. 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.” Petkovic once reached the French Open semifinal and there was also a time when she was a top-10 player.
