Petkovic for Telegraf: "What happened to Federer when he was dominant is happening to Novak, but he is GOAT"

Photo: ROBERT MICHAEL/AFP/Profimedia

Although she has played for the German national team all her life, Andrea Petkovic was always considered "one of us." Which she essentially is. The former Top 10 player, a participant in many finals in Grand Slam tournaments, shared her views with Telegraf at the Wimbledon complex before the semi-final match between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.

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Andrea is convinced that Djokovic is completely unstoppable this year.

"Very good! When he was playing in Australia, I already saw tennis from another world even then. I know he had an injury there, but when he played, I had the feeling that he was the best Novak I had ever seen. It doesn't surprise me at all that he wins so much and is so dominant. All those things that we thought were weird when we were 19, 20 years old, meditation, yoga, nutrition, it's paying off now. He is 36 years old, his colleagues can't do it anymore, but he still can. Psychological power is natural, hard to imitate, so I see very high chances for him... Very low chances for others!," Andrea began with a smile.

Who is the greatest of all time?

"I am a rational person, and there are the numbers. If you look at them, not only has he won the most Grand Slams and Masters, not only has he spent the most weeks ranked as No. 1... I don't understand the discussion. If you ask the question, who has influenced tennis the most in 2,000 years, then it's OK. But that's not the question. The question is who is the greatest of all time, who is the GOAT, and that is Nole."

Are "Westerners" perhaps too critical of Djokovic?

"Well, for sure. There is that. Sometimes I think it's not personally against Novak, but sometimes people, not knowing how difficult it is to achieve what he is achieving, want someone else to win so they don't get bored. Often things are not personal, people just want chaos. And, Nole is not chaos, Nole is very standard, he will play well and 99 percent will win. It is the opposite of chaos."

Do you follow (Serbian player) Olga Danilovic's games? Can we still hope for big titles there?

"Don't expect too much, she has great potential. She knows how to play both forehand and backhand, she has the serve, she knows the net, she is an athlete, the only thing she needs is complete peace (of mind). She still hasn't found that complete peace. She panics and thus loses her form that she should have during the match. However, I think she has great potential to win major titles, but she needs to find peace within herself. I don't know who can help her, she has to find it in herself, and when that happens, it will be very difficult to beat her. And she is a lefty - there are many things that could make her shine on the WTA tour."

Kristina Mladenovic said during the last French Open that "she is French when she wins and Serbian when she loses" - have you felt that that during your career playing for Germany?

"In the beginning, yes, but later when I played the FED Cup, when I was winning, I felt that it had changed. But, in the beginning, yes. Everyone knows that feeling. And they know that we identify more with our own on the tour. I also follow Kristina and Olga (more) than the Germans, because I know how they feel and where they come from. I know what Kristina is talking about," concluded Petkovic.

(Telegraf.rs)