Andrea Petkovic used to be terrified of New York City, but now she’s thriving in the Big Apple, on and off the court.
The 31-year-old German scored her first Top 10 win in over a year on Thursday, toppling No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic to reach the third round. She faces No. 25 Elise Mertens of Belgium on Saturday, as she looks to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time since 2014.
"[This is] my favorite city in the world," Petkovic told Baseline about New York. "I'm so happy because all of my friends are here. I'm really glad that I could win in front of them.”
Part of Petkovic's ease in New York is due to the city serving as a main base for her now. She spends half the year living with her boyfriend in Brooklyn, and has friends in Manhattan to check out art galleries and concerts with. During her off-season last year, she made the two-hour drive upstate to Woodstock and rented a cottage to focus on a writing project.
It's a far from cry from her first trip to New York City in 2007, when she could barely bring herself to leave her hotel room.
"I was terrified," she told Baseline. "I was so scared of the city. I was staying somewhere in Midtown. I just managed to walk around one block—that was the radius that I was moving in. I would go to the coffee shop across the street and back. The only nutrition I got was room service."
Over time, Petkovic became more comfortable with all things New York and it showed in her results. She reached the US Open quarterfinals in 2011, the same year she peaked at No. 9 in the WTA rankings. Off the court, the German also discovered what she loved most about the city.
"The art galleries," she told Sports illustrated in 2013. "I love the energy in museums. I feel like there's something creative going on, some creative force. The only problem I have with the museums is that they're so crowded in New York. So it's really tough when it tires you out."
But a self-described "midlife crisis" at the ripe old age of 28 almost brought her off the tour and back home to Germany. Burned out, emotionally and physically, after spending nearly a decade as a professional athlete made Petkovic question her life choices. She’s known as one of the most well-rounded players on tour, at one point pursuing a degree in political science and currently working on a book scheduled for release next year.
Ironically, Petkovic eventually realized that the downtime which can come with life on tour enabled her to pursue these interests freely. She wrote a weekly column for a German newspaper and pitched a weekly radio show concept to a German public radio station. Exploring these outside interests means that her retirement from the sport will be a gradual transition and not a dramatic shift.
"I'm preparing my goodbye from tennis already. I do things that I can work into my schedule. I'm older now. I don't practice as much any more, so I have time on my hands," she said to tennis.life. "I like to work. I'm not someone who can sit around and binge-watch a series or look at my phone. So I like to be busy."
Petkovic hopes to be busy for the next week, at least, as she aims for another big run at the US Open. But even if she's eliminated, she has her favorite stomping grounds around New York to look forward to.
"I prefer Brooklyn to Manhattan, but if I'm in Manhattan, I'm probably downtown, in the East Village and the Lower East Side," she explained to Baseline. "That's where many of my friends live and we have two dive bars that we just circle around. You can always find them there—me less, because I have to play."
