Losing to Belinda Bencic in the second round of the US Open also marked the end of her professional career Andrea Petkovic. The 34-year-old German, who reached number 7 in the world ranking, could not hide her emotion.
“When I got the first game today I felt great joy, I thought that I could claim the victory against such a good player as Belinda. But in the last few days I was crying in every training session. I’m glad it ended this way, against my good friend, Belinda, whom I love and respect so much. I’m happy that I showed that courage and perseverance throughout my career, all the respect I showed to the game and to the other players. I still have a passion for the game, but my body doesn’t allow me to play tennis anymore. I can’t train as much as I want and play for a whole season. I’ve had injuries all my life. During 2022 I was forced to sit out several tournaments and take several breaks. For the past few weeks I’ve been playing with anti-inflammatories and painkillers, which made me realize I couldn’t go on like this. That was the saddest part“, he said with tears in his eyes.
The German also referred to the upcoming retirement of Serena Williams: “I’m happy for her, I know how hard it is. All attention is focused on her. I don’t know how he does it. Each of us is different, so I don’t know if he feels it to the extent that I do. I was impressed that he won yesterday, not because he’s not playing well, but because of the emotions he had to overcome. I had planned to announce my retirement a few weeks ago, but Serina’s Vogue interview got in the way, so I thought it wasn’t a good time. In the next couple of days I will post something (related) on social media»
A feel-good moment??
The NY crowd gives @andreapetkovic some love after what may be her final #USOpen match. pic.twitter.com/1gGE3XTS2X
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 30, 2022
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