Andrea Petkovic has been playing tennis professionally for 16 years, and now she is announcing the end of her career. The 34-year-old wants to call it a day after the US Open, but still has the option of a tournament in Europe open. She has long since built a career alongside sport.
New York again, the big stage again – and then it’s over: Andrea Petkovic will end her tennis career after the US Open, which begins on Monday. The 34-year-old announced this. “I’m still leaving the option open to add a tournament in Europe that’s a little closer to my family and friends – but in general this is my last tournament here,” said Petkovic of the ARD “Sportschau”: “Maybe it’s already over here in New York.”
Accordingly, she did not give any details about her decision in an emotional conversation. It was only this Monday that she wanted to talk in more detail about her decision. The world number 104 meets in Flushing Meadows. in the first round on Tuesday as an outsider to Olympic champion Belinda Bencic from Switzerland (No. 13).
The greatest success of the Darmstadt native, who began her professional career in 2006, was reaching the semi-finals of the 2014 French Open in Paris. She won a total of seven individual titles on the WTA tour, and her best place in the world rankings in October 2011 was ninth. With the German Fed Cup team, Petkovic reached the final in 2014, which they lost to the Czech Republic.
Petkovic is a player who stands out. Since December 2019 she has also been in front of the camera as a ZDF presenter at irregular intervals, writes columns for newspapers and magazines and published the book “Between Glory and Honor Lies the Night” in 2020.
At the French Open, she emphasized how much fun the matches on the big stage are for her – she had originally planned to end her career in 2020. “If it were up to me, I would play for ten more years,” Petkovic said in May. But she had to listen to her body at the end of the season, she added at the time. Now her decision has been made.
