Andrea Petkovic

Petkovic at the ITF tournament in Pétange, Luxembourg, in July 2007

Petkovic turned professional in 2006 after she finished school,[18] but she had already won four titles on the ITF Circuit. She was the winner of the tournaments in Antalya, Podgorica (both in 2004), Davos and Alphen aan den Rijn (both in 2005).

In April 2007, she became a member of the German Fed Cup team. She played her first Grand Slam tournament at the 2007 French Open where she reached the second round, after coming through the qualifying without losing a set and beating Jarmila Groth. There she lost to later Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli. After this, and having some success on the ITF Circuit (she won the ITF title in Contrexéville in July 2007), she reached the top 100 of the WTA rankings for the first time. Because of that, she was able to play in the US Open main draw without having to qualify. She once again reached the second round after beating Audra Cohen. In round two she lost to Lucie Šafářová.

At the Australian Open in January 2008, in her first-round match against Anna Chakvetadze, she suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in her right knee after only two minutes of play. This prevented her from playing any tournament for almost eight months, which caused her ranking drop to 465.[18][20] After the injury, she started playing mostly on the ITF Circuit again where she won a tournament in Istanbul in November 2008. She finished the year with a ranking of 315.

In 2009, Petkovic played her first tournament at the Australian Open due to a protected ranking. She beat fellow German Kathrin Wörle to reach the second round but then lost to Alizé Cornet. She mostly kept on playing ITF tournaments until June with success. She won the Open Romania in Bucharest, defeating Jelena Dokić in the semifinals along the way, and regained a top-100 ranking.

In July 2009, Petkovic won her first WTA tournament in Bad Gastein, losing only one set throughout the tournament.[18] In the final, she beat Raluca Olaru. On her way to the title, she defeated, amongst others, Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Iveta Benešová. She also played the doubles final in Bad Gastein, partnering Tatjana Malek. The following week, she reached the semifinals in Istanbul, losing to Lucie Hradecká in three tight sets. After those two weeks, she achieved her then career high singles ranking of world No. 52.

For the rest of the year, she struggled to repeat her success but had another good tournament at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo where she came through the qualifying and reached the round of 16. In the second round, she had her win over a top-10 player in beating Svetlana Kuznetsova, but was knocked out by Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets.

Petkovic at the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix

She played her first tournament in 2010 in Brisbane, Australia, where she reached the semifinal with wins over Iveta Benešová, Vania King, and Daniela Hantuchová. She then lost to eventual champion Kim Clijsters. After that tournament, she reached the top 50 of the WTA rankings for the first time.

At the Open GdF Suez in Paris, Petkovic reached the quarterfinals after defeating Katarina Srebotnik and number five seed Aravane Rezaï, but lost to Elena Dementieva.

At the French Open, Petkovic defeated Elena Vesnina in the first round. She was beaten by defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round, after missing four match points on her own serve.

Petkovic was seeded seventh at the UNICEF Open and advanced to the final with wins over Petra Kvitová, Ana Ivanovic, Sandra Záhlavová, and Kirsten Flipkens. She lost to Justine Henin in the final.

Petkovic's best singles performance in a Grand Slam event came at the US Open. Her first two matches were three-set upset victories over Nadia Petrova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. She performed an on-court dance following both triumphs. After she received a third-round walkover due to an injury to Peng Shuai, Petkovic lost her first career Arthur Ashe Stadium appearance to eventual tournament finalist Vera Zvonareva.[19]

Petkovic at the 2011 Fed Cup

Returning to the Brisbane International, and with coach Petar Popović, Petkovic improved on her previous best semifinal appearance by reaching the final, with straight set wins over eighth seeded Alexandra Dulgheru, Jelena Dokić, Jarmila Groth, and fourth seeded Marion Bartoli. In the final, she lost to Wimbledon semifinalist Petra Kvitová.

Petkovic was the 30th seed at the Australian Open. She advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Jill Craybas, Anne Keothavong, injured number three seed Venus Williams, who retired after just one game, and No. 14 seed Maria Sharapova. She was defeated by eventual finalist Li Na in the quarterfinals, her best achievement in a Grand Slam championship of her career.

Petkovic then played Fed Cup for Germany and helped them to a win over Slovenia with two wins in singles rubbers.[26] Next, Petkovic reached the quarterfinals of the Open GdF Suez, where she lost to Mattek-Sands in a tight three-set match.

Her next tournament was in Dubai, where she defeated fellow German Angelique Kerber in straight sets for the second straight week, but lost to Kaia Kanepi in the second round.

Petkovic defeated world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Next, Petkovic faced Jelena Janković and defeated her too. In the semifinals, she lost to Maria Sharapova.

At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Petkovic upset No. 7 seed Janković in three sets to set up a clash with world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki. Petkovic would go on to lose to Wozniacki.

Petkovic practicing at the French Open in 2011

Petkovic won her second WTA Tour title in Strasbourg, defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld, Zhang Shuai, Maria Kirilenko and Daniela Hantuchová. In the final, she faced home favorite and No. 1 seed Marion Bartoli and won the title after Bartoli retired early in the second set. After that performance, Petkovic reached her new career-high ranking of No. 12 as of 23 May 2011.

As the 15th seed, Petkovic reached the quarterfinals of the French Open. She beat Bojana Jovanovski, Lucie Hradecká, 24th seed Jarmila Gajdošová, and 25th seed Maria Kirilenko to reach the last eight, where she lost to seventh seed Maria Sharapova.

One month later, Petkovic lost in the third round at Wimbledon against the young Russian player Ksenia Pervak.

In August, coach Dušan Vemić joined the team. Petkovic she became the sixth German player in history to crack the top 10 by winning her opening match at the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego against American player Alexa Glatch. At the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, she made it to the quarterfinals where she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska. At Cincinnati, Petkovic made the semifinals in spite of injury, before losing to Jelena Janković in straight sets.

At the US Open, Petkovic was seeded tenth. She beat Ekaterina Bychkova and Zheng Jie to progress to the third round, where she beat the 18th seed Roberta Vinci to set up a fourth-round match with Carla Suárez Navarro, equalling her career best performance at the event up to that point. She went on to win the match against Navarro to secure her first ever quarterfinals spot at the US Open against the world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki. She performed her trademark dance to delight the audience after her fourth round win. On 8 September she lost to Wozniacki in straight sets.

Seeded ninth at the China Open, Petkovic defeated Šafářová and Suárez Navarro to reach the third round where she emerged victorious over Marion Bartoli in three sets. In the quarterfinals, she defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and proceeded to the semifinals where she won against Monica Niculescu. In the final, she faced Agnieszka Radwańska and lost in a tight three-setter. It was her last match of the year. She was seeded second at the Linz Open in October but withdrew before the tournament began, citing a right knee injury. In 2011, Petkovic reached her highest ranking alongside her then coaching staff (Popovic/Vemić).

Petkovic at the US Open in 2012

Her first tournament of 2012 was the Brisbane International in January. Seeded second, she beat Shahar Pe'er in the first round and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the second round before losing to eventual winner Kaia Kanepi in the quarterfinal. Petkovic then played at the Sydney International the following week. She beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round and lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in the second round. During the match, Petkovic received treatment for what was revealed the following day to be a double stress fracture of her spine and a spinal disc herniation. She explained: "I've been having some back problems for the last three or four months. I've been struggling with it, but I've always believed it was going to be fine and so I pushed through the pain. The last two weeks in Australia I've been having bigger problems and I could only play for 30–45 minutes without pain."[27] As a result, Petkovic withdrew from the Australian Open the following week, where she would have been seeded 10th. The injury ultimately kept her out for three months.[28]

Petkovic made her comeback in a Fed Cup match in April, losing to Samantha Stosur. She then played at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, beating Kristina Barrois in the first round. In her second round match against Victoria Azarenka, Petkovic was down 2–6 and 4–4 when she rolled her right ankle. She was forced out with what was later revealed to be torn ankle ligaments, which required surgery and kept her out for another four months, including the French Open, Wimbledon, and the London Olympics. She said of the injury: "I knew immediately that it was bad because I heard everything crack. I tried to pull my foot up, and it just flopped there. The first thing I thought was: 'Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.' With 4,000 people watching. In Germany."[29] She attended weeks of rehabilitation to rebuild the muscles in her leg, working seven hours a day, five days a week.[29]

Ahead of her return to the tour, Petkovic was worried that she had fallen behind: "I was really scared that I would not be able to compete with the top players and that I might not be able to get back to where I was. Your expectations once you were in the top 10 are to be back in the top 10. Not to be in the top 30 – you’re not going to be satisfied with that. I'm definitely scared of that."[29] Petkovic made her second comeback of the year at the New Haven Open in mid-August. She beat Tímea Babos in the first round and lost to Dominika Cibulková in the second round. At her next three tournaments, the US Open in August, the Pan Pacific Open in September and the China Open in October, Petkovic was eliminated in the first round, by Romina Oprandi, Petra Martić, and Jelena Janković, respectively. After her defeat in China, Petkovic fell to world rank 192, her lowest since March 2009. She received a wildcard for the Generali Ladies Linz in October, beating Záhlavová-Strýcová in the first round and losing to Ana Ivanovic in the second round. She had much more success in her final two tournaments of the year, reaching the semifinals of the Luxembourg Open and the Royal Indian Open. In Luxembourg, she beat Garbiñe Muguruza, Janković, and Ksenia Pervak before losing to eventual winner Venus Williams. At the Royal Indian Open, she beat Sofia Shapatava, Chang Liu, and Nina Bratchikova before losing to eventual winner Elina Svitolina. By this time, her world ranking had risen to 126.

Petkovic's final match of 2012 was on 29 December in the 2013 Hopman Cup against Ashleigh Barty. She won the first set 6–4 but appeared to be suffering from a knee injury late on in the set. She received treatment for it before the second set but could not continue and retired from the match in tears.[30]

Petkovic at Wimbledon in 2013

The injury was identified as a ruptured meniscus in her right knee, the second time in two years she had suffered the injury, and she underwent surgery on it in early January.[31] She said of the injury: "My team and I are actually managing to take it tragically funny... Everything bad that could happen, happened to me. So nothing surprises me anymore. I'm quite relieved it wasn't the ACL because it was a very similar pain and very similar symptoms to what I had in 2008 when I had my ACL torn in Australia. I'm just hoping for a quick recovery. I would so much appreciate if I could be back on court after three or four weeks."[32] Having suffered from a third serious injury in less than a year, Petkovic considered retiring. "I did actually ask for a few internships. I asked a few magazines if I could do an internship. I asked a few politicians that I know if I could do an internship. They all told me you can come whenever you want, and you can stay as long as you want. But I never really wanted."[33]

She returned to the tour in March, having fallen back to world No. 177, entering the qualifiers for the Indian Wells Open and losing in the second qualifying round to Monica Puig. Petkovic then received a wildcard for the Miami Masters. She beat Bojana Jovanovski and Marion Bartoli before falling to Ajla Tomljanović in the third round. She also received a wildcard for the Family Circle Cup in April, where she also reached the third round. She beat Taylor Townsend and Vania King and was due to face Caroline Wozniacki but withdrew before the match with a calf injury. It had been causing her discomfort since her three-set loss to Tomljanović, so she withdrew as a precaution, noting her recent experience with injuries.[34]

Her next tournaments were the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where she received a wildcard and lost in the first round to Ana Ivanovic; and the Madrid Open in May, where she lost in the first qualifying round to Bethanie Mattek-Sands. She then lost in the second qualifying round of the French Open. After that defeat, her ranking fell back down to world No. 138 and she again contemplated retirement, but her coach didn't take her seriously: "He just laughed and a few days later [I] picked up my racquet again."[35][36] She then received a wildcard for the ITF Open de Marseille in June, which she won without dropping a set, beating Anabel Medina Garrigues in the final. It was her first tournament win for over two years, her last coming when she won the Internationaux de Strasbourg in May 2011. After the win, she re-entered the world top 100 for the first time since September 2012. She also reached the final of the Nürnberger Versicherungscup that same month, receiving a wildcard and beating Sofia Arvidsson, fourth seed Julia Görges, eighth seed Annika Beck and top seed Jelena Janković en route to the final, where she lost to seventh seed Simona Halep.[37] Petkovic received a wildcard for the Wimbledon Championships, making only her second Grand Slam appearance since reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2011. She beat Pauline Parmentier in the first round, her first Grand Slam win since the fourth round of the US Open in 2011, and lost to Sloane Stephens in the second round.

Petkovic at the US Open in 2013

After a three-set first round defeat to Petra Martić at the Gastein Ladies on 16 July, Petkovic traveled to America for the US Open Series. Her first tournament was the Citi Open at the end of July, where she beat Jessica Pegula, Mona Barthel, Paula Ormaechea and Alizé Cornet to reach the final, where she lost to defending champion Magdaléna Rybáriková. In mid-August, Petkovic entered the qualifiers for the Cincinnati Open, beating Maria Sanchez and Karolína Plíšková to enter the first round proper, where she beat Daniela Hantuchová. She faced 12th seed Roberta Vinci in the second round and lost in three sets. At the US Open at the end of the month, she lost in the first round in straight sets to Bojana Jovanovski.

On 17 September, Petkovic was seeded seventh but knocked out of the Korea Open in the first round by eventual semifinalist Francesca Schiavone. A week later, she reached the second round of the Pan Pacific Open, beating Elena Vesnina before losing to 13th seed Simona Halep. At the end of the month, she took part in the China Open. She defeated world No. 2 and reigning champion, Victoria Azarenka, in the first round and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second, but lost to Lucie Šafářová in the third round in three sets.

Petkovic started the year in Brisbane where she defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands before losing to Serena Williams. At the Australian Open, she lost in first round to Magdaléna Rybáriková.

In the first round of the Fed Cup World Group, Petkovic defeated Dominika Cibulková, the reigning Australian Open finalist, and contributed to a 3–1 win for Germany.[38]

After disappointing results in Asia (Doha and Dubai) and also both Indian Wells (first-round loss to Camila Giorgi) and Miami (second-round loss to Alizé Cornet), Petkovic rallied past qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, Lourdes Domínguez Lino (with a double bagel, 6–0, 6–0), fourth seed and countrywoman Sabine Lisicki (with a near-double bagel 6–1, 6–0) and both in three sets seeded Lucie Šafářová and Eugenie Bouchard in Charleston, to set up the final match-up against Jana Čepelová of Slovakia, whom she beat in straight sets for her third WTA title.[39]

Petkovic then played again in the Fed Cup where she defeated Grand Slam champion Samantha Stosur, in straight sets. With that win, she helped Germany into the 2014 Fed Cup final for the first time since 1992 when they won the title.

After that, Petkovic played four tournaments on clay to prepare for the second annual Grand Slam, Roland Garros. And things did not go so well, as she won just one match during the Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome, over Romina Oprandi in Rome, but lost all others, to Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani and Serena Williams, respectively. But in Strasbourg, she defeated Pauline Parmentier and Vania King and reached the quarterfinal before losing in two tight sets to the eventual champion, Monica Puig.

After a rather mediocre clay season, Petkovic surprisingly reached the semifinals of the French Open. In the first round, she beat Misaki Doi in straight sets, before playing matches in three sets three times. She defeated Stefanie Vögele, Kristina Mladenovic and Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens in these rounds, to reach the quarterfinals. There she sought revenge in two sets over 10th seed Sara Errani from the last match Andrea lost against her and got into her first Grand Slam semifinal. However, in the semifinals she lost to world No. 4, Simona Halep, missing break and game points in the second set. Nevertheless, this long run catapulted her back into the world's top 20.

She started the grass court season in 's-Hertogenbosch, where she lost in the second round. At Wimbledon she reached the third round as the 20th seed, losing to another French Open semifinalist and eventual Wimbledon finalist, Eugenie Bouchard. But it was not her end of Wimbledon – Petkovic played in the women's doubles, for the second time at a Grand Slam with Magdaléna Rybáriková. In the process of reaching a Grand Slam doubles semifinal for the first time, they beat the third, tenth and sixteenth seeds, all in straight sets. But in the semifinals, they lost to the 14th seeds Babos and Mladenovic, also in two sets.

Petkovic then played at the Bad Gastein tournament on clay. There she won her fourth title, rallying past Jana Čepelová, compatriot Dinah Pfizenmaier, Stefanie Vögele, Grace Min and Shelby Rogers in the final. She beat Rogers in straight sets.[40] She only dropped one set en route to the title, against Min. In Stanford, she beat Venus Williams in the quarterfinals to set up a clash with her sister Serena, but she could not beat both Williams sisters, as Serena ended Petkovic's eight-match winning streak and also won their third match of the year. Next, Petkovic lost in the early rounds of Cincinnati and New Haven. And at the last major of the season, the US Open, she reached the third round. Coming back from the brink of loss against Monica Puig, she lost to eventual finalist Caroline Wozniacki.

In the Asian swing, Petkovic played first in Wuhan where she won her debut match, but then lost to Karolína Plíšková. In Beijing, she fought back to save match points against Monica Niculescu, before an easy win over Madison Keys. She lost, however, to Simona Halep, in three sets.

Petkovic played two events in Europe and she won a total of nine matches with only two losses. But she finished the season in style, winning the last tournament of the season – the WTA Tournament of Champions, the tournament for the six players which had not qualified for the WTA Finals, but who had won at least one WTA International tournament. She lost her first match convincingly to Carla Suárez Navarro, but beat Tsvetana Pironkova, Dominika Cibulková, and Garbiñe Muguruza to reach the final. There she beat Flavia Pennetta in three sets for the biggest title of her career.

At the season-ending Fed Cup final, Petkovic lost the opening rubber to Petra Kvitová. Germany went on to lose their first Fed Cup final since 1992, with a final score of 3–1 for the Czech Republic.

Petkovic finished the season for the second time in the top 20, ranked world No. 13.

Petkovic started her 2015 year at the Brisbane International where she was the fifth seed. She lost in the first round to Kaia Kanepi. At the Apia International Sydney, Petkovic lost in the first round to Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdošová. Petkovic was the 13th seed at the Australian Open and lost in the first round to Madison Brengle. However, Petkovic bounced back at the 2015 Fed Cup World Group by beating Samantha Stosur and Jarmila Gajdošová. Due to those two wins, Petkovic helped Germany reach another semifinal after defeating Australia.

Petkovic followed her good form by playing at the Diamond Games as the ninth seed; she also received a bye into the second round where she saved eight match points to beat wildcard Alison Van Uytvanck. In the quarterfinals, she beat 6th seed Dominika Cibulková. In the semifinals, Petkovic beat Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová to reach her first WTA final of 2015. In the final, Petkovic won the title by beating Carla Suárez Navarro who withdrew before the match started due to a neck injury. Kim Clijsters, the tournament director, stepped in unexpectedly at the last moment and beat Andrea in a single set exhibition match. By virtue of this success, Petkovic broke back into the top 10 for the first time since the 2012 Miami Fortnight.

Due to Petkovic winning Antwerp, she received a bye in the first round at the Dubai Tennis Championships, and she was also the 9th seed. Petkovic lost in the second round to Zarina Diyas. Next week, Petkovic played at the Qatar Open where she was the sixth seed. In the first round, Petkovic beat qualifier Kirsten Flipkens, and in the second round, Petkovic got revenge on Zarina Diyas. In the quarterfinals, Petkovic lost to eventual champion Lucie Šafářová in straight sets.

After receiving a first round bye and suffering an early loss to Lesia Tsurenko in Indian Wells, Petkovic reached the semifinals of the Miami Open for the second time in her career, beating Christina McHale, Kristina Mladenovic, Ekaterina Makarova and Karolína Plíšková en route before falling to Suárez Navarro. A defending champion at the Family Circle Cup, Petkovic beat Chanelle Scheepers, Madison Brengle, and Danka Kovinić before losing to eventual champion Angelique Kerber.

Petkovic played for Germany in Fed Cup semifinals against Russia. She won singles match against Svetlana Kuznetsova. She played in the deciding doubles match alongside Sabine Lisicki, but they lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina and Germany lost 2–3.

Petkovic withdrew from Stuttgart due to a thigh injury.[41] In Madrid, Petkovic defeated Flavia Pennetta in the first round, but then she withdrew from the tournament due to illness.[42] In Nürnberg, Petkovic retired her first round match against Yulia Putintseva due to injury.[43]

At the French Open, Petkovic defeated Shelby Rogers and Lourdes Domínguez Lino before losing to Sara Errani in the third round.[44]

In Birmingham, Petkovic received a bye in the first round. In the second round, she lost to Czech youngster Kateřina Siniaková. Petkovic reaches quarterfinals in Eastbourne, where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki.[45]

At Wimbledon, Petkovic double bageled Shelby Rogers in the first round.[46] She went on to win against Mariana Duque before losing to Zarina Diyas in the third round.[47][48]

Petkovic at the 2016 US Open

Petkovic began her 2016 year at the Brisbane International. She beat Teliana Pereira and Ekaterina Makarova. In the quarterfinals, Petkovic lost to American qualifier Samantha Crawford in two sets. At the Australian Open, Petkovic was the 22nd seed; she lost in the first round to Elizaveta Kulichkova. After the Australian Open, Petkovic helped Germany at the 2016 Fed Cup World Group. Playing Switzerland, Petkovic lost her rubber to Belinda Bencic and then played in doubles with Anna-Lena Grönefeld, but they lost to Bencic/Hingis in two sets. Germany lost to Switzerland 2–3. At the Dubai Championships, Petkovic reached the quarterfinals by beating Camila Giorgi and Jelena Janković before losing to Caroline Garcia. Her next tournament was the Qatar Open, where she defeated Ekaterina Makarova, Margarita Gasparyan, and CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets en route to the quarterfinals, where she beat Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets. Her win over Muguruza was the first against a top five player since 2013. However, Petkovic had to retire in her match against Jeļena Ostapenko due to a left thigh injury.[49]

In Indian Wells, Petkovic received a bye in the first round. In the second round, she lost to Barbora Strýcová. Similarly, in Miami, after bye in the first round, she lost to Caroline Garcia.

Petkovic represented Germany in 2017 Hopman Cup alongside Alexander Zverev. German team ended up second in Group A.

In Hobart, Petkovic lost in second round to Verónica Cepede Royg.[50] At the Australian Open, she lost in second round to Barbora Strýcová.[51]

At French Open, Petkovic lost in the first round to Varvara Lepchenko.[52]

At the Australian Open, Petkovic defeated Petra Kvitová in the first round in a match lasting almost three hours.[53] In the second round, she lost to Lauren Davis without winning a single game during the second and third set.[54]

At the French Open, Petkovic defeated Kristina Mladenovic[55] and Bethanie Mattek-Sands before losing to Simona Halep in the third round.[56]

At Wimbledon, she defeated Zhang Shuai but then lost to Yanina Wickmayer in the second round.[57]

In Washington, Petkovic defeated two seeded players Sloane Stephens and Belinda Bencic, before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.[58] At US Open, Petkovic lost in the first round to Jeļena Ostapenko.[59]

Petkovic reached semifinals in Linz, where she lost to qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova.[60] At Luxembourg Open, she lost in quarterfinals to a qualifier Eugenie Bouchard.[61]

Petkovic started her 2019 season at the Brisbane International. She lost in the final round of qualifying to Harriet Dart. At the Australian Open, she retired from her first-round match against Irina-Camelia Begu.[62]

Petkovic played for Germany in Fed Cup against Belarus, she lost her singles match against Aryna Sabalenka.[63]

At the US Open, she upset Kvitová in the second round, in straight sets.[64]