A. PETKOVIC/J. Gajdosova
6 2, 4 6, 6 3
ANDREA PETKOVIC
Q. It was a very tough match. You seemed to be able to keep it together very well in the last set.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, I'm really proud of myself that I managed to compose myself and managed to keep fighting in the third set. I had a few chances I think three or four break chances in the second set. It could have been done by now already, by the time of the second set.
I missed just for a few centimeters actually three or four forehands. After that she relaxed her arm and she just played incredibly well couple of games. So there was really nothing else I could do.
In the third set I was happy that I composed myself and waited for my chances to come. They eventually came and I took them, and I'm really happy I went through.
Q. You've had a great year and the draw is wide, wide open. How do you sort of rate your chances to go all the way here?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I definitely think I have chances. But I think chances are always there. It doesn't matter how the draw is. If I play well I can beat anybody in the world, so it doesn't really matter how the draw looks like.
I think I have to focus on the next match. Everybody who is in the fourth round of a Grand Slam must be playing really, really well. There are the best players in the world are here.
And actually also when you see somebody like Clijsters going out, Wozniacki going out, you should be on your toes all the time and be aware that all the girl out there are playing great tennis. You just have to be 100% to beat them and go further in the Grand Slams.
I'm really happy I'm again in the second week of a Grand Slam. Yeah. Also in doubles, by the way. (Laughter.)
Q. How is the relationship with your new coach, Heinz Günthardt, going?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, Heinz is not my coach. He's just my consultant. My coach is Peter Popovic. Heinz is just a consultant. I work with him eight weeks a year, so I wouldn't really call him a coach.
But it's going great. You know, I really enjoy getting some new inspirations and input from the outside. Sometimes when you work together close as me and Peter you actually forget or you actually cannot see things that have to be improved anymore because you're so close that you cannot see anything.
Heinz is just giving great input from the outside. I'm also happy that the two guys, Peter and Heinz, get along so well. That's very important to know this. I think I have a lot more things to learn.
Q. Is he here?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: He's here, yeah. I think he couldn't watch my match actually because from 3:00 he had to do TV. I think he had to do Rafa or something, I'm not sure.
So that was a pity. But he was there for my practice today in the morning, and he's there for all the practices and whenever he can. Unless Roger and Rafa are playing. They are more important than me still. (Laughing.)
Q. Congratulations.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Thanks.
Q. Although we miss your dance dearly. So Kim loses; Maria barely survives; Caroline goes out. Rafa struggles on the men's side. In tournaments, sometimes is there just a feeling? Is there a connection? A buzz? Is there ever a sense that something is happening?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, you know, that's probably true. I think there is just when you see the first one going out, all the other players in the locker room, they are watching the matches and they go, Wait a minute. I could be that one maybe.
And also, if you are just not at 100%, even guys like Rafa and Roger, if you just give away 1%, the other guys are good enough to be there and take their chances.
As I already said before, you have to be on your toes all the time. Even if you go into the match as favorites sometimes, you just have to be aware that everybody who is here, we are at a Grand Slam. The best players in the world are here.
Everybody who is here knows how to play tennis. You are just have to be on your toes and be aware all the time and try to give 100%, otherwise you're going out sooner than you know.
Q. Speaking of on your toes, if you win this tournament, would you consider giving us the dance then?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: If I win here, I give you anything you want. (Laughter.)
Q. We'll talk later.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: (Laughter.)
Q. People have looked at the women's game, and they look at how wide open it is. Certain people aren't playing and think the women's game is in great shape because it's so wide open and it's interesting. Some people say it's in terrible shape because of the same thing. How do you look at it?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, you know, I look at it as a change of generation right now. I just feel like, you know, the top stairs stars that we're all used to, like the Williams sisters and Kim Clijsters, are just start off retiring slowly.
I mean, I don't think the Williams sisters will be around any longer, more than two or three or four years. I don't know. Kim also already said she wants to do the Olympic Games and then she's gone.
I think the players that are coming up I'm thinking about a girl like Kvitova, Julia Goerges, all these great players that are coming up are still not that consistent to be dominant.
I think it's just a change of generation that is happening right now. That's why the fields are so wide open, because there is no dominant figure. The top stars are slowly going away and the new generation is not as stable as it will be I think in two or three years.
I'm definitely sure that in two or three years it will be a different story with the same players that we have now. Just we going to say then, Oh, look at Kvitova. She's a dominant. Look at Julia, look at this girl and this girl.
I think we just have to wait and see. I think my future telling will be right. (Laughter.)
Q. Just about the quality of dominance, there were times when Venus would walk on the court, Serena, even Justine, and players just knew they didn't have much of a chance.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Uh huh.
Q. Is that a factor in tennis, just out of the locker room you just know you really don't have really much of a chance?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I don't know. I'm not so long on tour now to really tell, because I'm on tour now for maybe two years. Since I'm there, I always have the feeling that well, from my part at least I never went into matches I played Justine, I played Serena. I played all of them in three sets. I played Venus.
And I never went into the match thinking, Okay, I don't have to chance. I always went into the match thinking that I'm going to win for sure. I think that's just also this new attitude of young players coming up, going into the matches with the top stars and believing they can beat them no matter what.
That's the difference. Because in earlier times I also remember Steffi, the first four or five games in a Grand Slam actually didn't matter at all. I think the reporters didn't even watch. I'm not sure if they watch us today.
But still, because it really didn't matter. It was just a matter if she loses two or three games. So that's just not there anymore. Any player who plays a top star just believes they can beat them, and that's the big difference. The attitude alone makes a huge difference.
Q. Speaking of the new generation, now your country have a lot of good players, like you and Julia and Sabine.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah.
Q. Do you think it has any special program or something, support from your country like federation or something?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: That's really funny, because like I remember last year it was exactly the same program and exactly the same federation, and everybody was talking how bad the program in Germany is.
Now we are playing well and everybody is saying, Wow, the federation in Germany must be doing something right. Sometimes it's just a coincidence. Now we are just all playing so well, and somehow German Federation seems to be everything right.
If I remember, last year German Federation couldn't do anything right. So I don't know. I just feel like also we are pulling each other up, you know. When I beat Wozniacki when I played well in Miami, when I played well in Australian Open, I mean, we practice together and the girls see, Okay, wait, this Petkovic is not far away from me at all. I can do the same.
So Julia win in Stuttgart, and Sabine goes like, Wait a minute. I can beat Julia in practice. She qualifies here and almost beats Zvonareva.
So it's just a very healthy competition that's going on. We're all friends, and I play doubles with Julia. It's just positive energy that we sort of, yeah, that we sort of push to each other every time in each tournament.
I think it's a great atmosphere right now in Germany to play and to have this new rising of the German stars. Yeah.
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