By Ricky Dimon
Andrea Petkovic has victory danced for the ultimate time in her skilled profession. Sadly for her followers, of which there are numerous, there was no celebratory sashay on the U.S. Open on Tuesday.
Taking part in in her final event, Petkovic suffered a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 first-round loss to 2021 Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic. The 34-year-old German put up a commendable combat however ended up bowing out after two hours and 12 minutes.
“It was simply pure disappointment, which can also be typically good in a method,” Petkovic mentioned of saying final week that this could be the tip. “It was very pure. It wasn’t actually destructive; it was simply exhausting. Crying a lot is exhausting.
“I nonetheless love the sport; nonetheless have an amazing quantity of ardour for the sport. It’s extra the physique that’s not permitting me to play tennis anymore in a method that I wish to play it, practice the way in which I wish to practice, (to) simply play a full season actually.
“This I consistently needed to skip tournaments and to take breaks. The final 4 weeks I’ve simply been enjoying with painkillers and anti-inflammatories. That was simply the half that made me determine to not proceed anymore–not the shortage of ardour or need for the sport. So I believe that was the saddest half in a method.”
For Sam Querrey, the fervour for the sport had been going away. In fact, at 34 years previous and having performed for 17 seasons on the professional tour, he additionally isn’t precisely feeling in peak bodily situation.
“My physique is getting somewhat drained,” Querrey defined upfront of his remaining occasion. “I’ve been on the U.S. Open since 2006. I’ve bought two little youngsters. I wish to go do one thing else. I wish to take a look at my thoughts someplace else and take a look at one thing new. It seems like that is the appropriate time.”
Like Petkovic, Querrey additionally mentioned farewell on Court docket 7. The 6’6” American misplaced to Ilya Ivashka 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(8), 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Though there was no sendoff on the grand stage of Arthur Ashe Stadium, Petkovic and Querrey alike have been each unfortunate and fortunate in a option to have performed within the period of all-time greats–the previous with Serena and Venus Williams and the latter with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer. That’s a part of the rationale why neither one captured a Grand Slam title, however each climbed close to the highest of the rankings–Petkovic to No. 11 and Querrey to No. 9. Petkovic confronted every Williams sister 5 occasions, going 0-5 in opposition to Serena and 2-3 in opposition to Venus. Querrey defeated Nadal as soon as and Djokovic twice.
“It’s been wonderful,” the 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist mirrored. “To play in an period with Novak, Roger, and Rafa is fairly loopy. Often you don’t have the three biggest gamers ever–and it’s probably not an argument they’re the three biggest gamers ever, I believe. To have them in the identical era is fairly loopy. It’s been an unimaginable run for them and to be a part of that week in and week out has been fairly cool. To play all of them a handful of occasions has been nice, and once you play these guys you play them on the most important levels on the Grand Slams, on the middle courtroom.
“So these are wonderful experiences, and to be fortunate sufficient to win a pair occasions is fairly cool.”
Editors Word • good luck Sam. And Andrea Petkovic | “Petko “ additionally identified by buddies as “Andy “ can be tremendously missed. She was good friend. She spent a while coaching at our tennis courtroom and coaching at our compound . We actually all the time loved her visits. A lot we gave her a treasure from our museum. A Fred Perry signed jumper (sweatshirt) . We first met her when she was a part of the adidas crew shaped by Sven Groeneveld. Finest needs to them each. (LJ) 🎾
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and in addition maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You’ll be able to comply with him on twitter at @Dimonator.
