Wednesday, September 1st, 2021
A bankruptcy that gives a lot of strength
Petkovic wrestles the “tough Olle”
Tennis player Andrea Petkovic already had the end of her career in mind, but is now thinking about the new season. The fact that the 33-year-old German clearly missed a surprise against Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round of the US Open does not change that.
Andrea Petkovic sat on the podium of the US Open an hour after the end against the “tough Olle” Garbine Muguruza and was already bubbling with zest for action. “I left the field and had ten things on my mind that I will deal with tomorrow with my coach.” The end of a career, which the former world number ninth already seemed very close to, suddenly seems a long way off. “I’m 33, that’s not yet an age, you can see it with Novak Djokovic,” said Petkovic, her body must continue to participate: “At the moment I feel fit and feel very close. As long as my passion is there and I mentally like that I’m like at the moment, I definitely want to continue playing. ”
The Darmstadt resident had previously shown that she can keep up with her Spanish friend Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam winner. Petkovic missed a surprise with a 4-6, 2-6 defeat against the tenth in the world rankings and thus also the third round, but the result was clearer than the game. Philipp Kohlschreiber had no chance, who had to admit defeat to the Spaniard Pablo Andujar after around two hours of play 4: 6, 3: 6, 1: 6. The same was true for Dominik Koepfer. The 27-year-old had no chance against mifavorite Daniil Medvedev at 4: 6, 1: 6, 2: 6
Petkovic described her match as “high-class, in which she was the better player in the crucial phases”. But she had enjoyed the Grand Slam feeling once more. Originally, she had announced the end of her career for 2020, but then Corona came and the athlete did not want to stop without matches in front of spectators. Now that the tennis year 2021 is coming to an end, the all-rounder is back in spite of the departure and can keep up. She also showed that against Muguruza at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. The quarter-finalist from 2011 was able to build on her convincing performances of the previous weeks and did not make it easy for the powerful player, who she knows well from many joint training sessions.
“She just bangs”
“She’s a tough Olle and just bangs,” Petkovic raved about her opponent before the match. In the special circumstances of the Australian Open, which was affected by severe corona restrictions, they got to know each other better in the spring. The chemistry was right immediately and both train regularly with each other. For Petkovic, the “insanely intense” units are one of the reasons for their upswing in recent weeks. She reached the final in Hamburg and then won another tournament in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, after six years. Her self-confidence was correspondingly high.
Against Muguruza, however, she had to run after a 3-0 deficit in both sets. While Petkovic was almost able to equalize in the first round, Muguruza shifted up a gear in the second set and did not allow the German who was still fighting to come closer. Petkovic, who also works as a TV journalist parallel to her tennis career, takes it as an incentive to keep improving.
.