WTA: Andrea Petkovic on the sexism debate: “Women are treated differently

Andrea Petkovic watched Serena Williams’ much-discussed outburst last weekend in the US Open final. The woman from Darmstadt tried to put herself in the position of the superstar from the USA – and stated in the Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) programme “Heimspiel!

Andrea Petkovic has played Serena Williams five times in her career to date, most recently in Toronto in 2015. And the woman from Darmstadt never made a secret of how much she acknowledges and admires the achievements of the 23-time Grand Slam winner from the USA.

Petkovic is known for questioning and analyzing things, often double or triple, to draw her own personal conclusions. Even if it can be tormenting sometimes. Of course, the recently 31-year-old also pondered the “why”, the reasons for Williams’ frightening “meltdown” in the Flushing Meadows final against Naomi Osaka (2-6, 4-6), a young and cool Japanese player.

And “Petko” has come to the conclusion that the reaction of the former number one was the very last desperate attempt to shoot the rather one-sided finale once again. “You have to know Serena a little bit as a personality, she’s always insanely emotional. And I think she went into the match expecting to win it,” Petkovic said in the “home game” and said: “You quickly notice as an individual athlete when everything goes against you, that’s the worst feeling. And I think Serena had this feeling.”

Williams felt that outsider Osaka was “full in the zone and won’t give her anything today,” Petkovic said unkte: “I think it was an emotional outburst – trying to turn it around, that vortex of energy and emotion. Then Serena lost control of it.”

Although the Hessian did not want to explicitly confirm the Williams accusation that the players are disadvantaged compared to their male colleagues on the tour, she stressed: “It is quite clear that we women are treated differently from men”. The sport is (too) often pushed into the background.

Petkovic also gets to feel this more often. “I’ve never seen anyone commenting on men’s outfits before. But I have to listen to it every time: I liked what you wore. We are simply looked at differently”, the world rankings-88 explained.

Petkovic, however, is not yet thinking about ending his career. “The last few weeks have shown that I can once again keep up with the best in the world. These are the moments that show me that I am still there,” she said.

Just recently in Washington at the beginning of August, the 2014 French Open semi-finalist defeated US Open winner Sloane Stephens (USA), among others – and shortly afterwards, at the Major in New York, the top ten player Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) had an exchange of blows at eye level.

After an impressive performance, Petkovic lost the duel with the former Roland Garros champion in just three sets, but was then as proud as Bolle “about the best box in the world” – peppered with friends from southern Hesse and the Big Apple.

Although the eloquent Darmstadt tennis player still wants to stay in the tennis world for a while, she is already thinking about the future. She enjoys writing. Petkovic has already written some impressive reports and articles for the shrill US magazine Racquet. And until recently she even wrote a multi-part column for the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin (SZ-Magazin), which met with an extremely positive response not only because of its humour.

And “Petko” wouldn’t be “Petko” if she didn’t have more in the pipeline. She’s planning to write a book. Only the timing is surprising. After the season, the former world number nine wants to retire for a few weeks – “only with a laptop”. Maybe to a lonely mountain hut with lots of tea and no cell phone. One can be curious. One thing is certain: that’s how many careers as writers have begun…!