By Stephane Carter
Watching Andrea Petkovic calculate her way into Istanbul reminded of playing poker in an online casino.
Unfortunately for the lovely German, it wasn’t mean to be. To qualify for the Tennis Championships in Istanbul she had to win the Beijing Open. She failed to do that and as a result the race for that number eight spot is now between Agnieszka Radwanska or Marion Bartoli. They are both great players and especially Marion Bartoli has been a revelation this season. Bartoli showed that by reaching the finals of the Pacific Life Open and the semis of the French Open that the Wimbledon finale was no fluke and that she is definitely trying establish herself as a consistent performer worthy of one of the top spots of the WTA Tour.
Petkovic’ quest for qualification for Istanbul also reminded me of the poker players using the baccarat strategy when we looked at the points that Petkovic needed to earn to get her into Istanbul. Even with wins in Luxembourg or Moscow then she wouldn’t have gotten in. She would still be approximately 200 points away from qualifying.
But I digress.
Andrea Petkovic has had a top season. She impressed by reaching the semis of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with her solid results and her famous Petko dance. She maintained her good form during the clay season with good results at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and winning the Internationaux de Strasbourg tournament and her best result on clay came when she reached the semis of the French Open. And even though it became fairly obvious that grass isn’t her game she quickly showed her good form again during the US Open Series and China.
What should have been the crown on an excellent season ends in a bummer for Petkovic. With a broken meniscus, heavily fatigued by the long season she is still hoping to play in Istanbul. She will travel to the tournament with hopes of one of the qualified will withdraw so she can take the spot. Play a few matches in the round robin stage and end the year in Indonesia to play the Commonwealth tournament in Bali.
It is unfortunate that she does not get the close out the season by playing Istanbul directly. Of all the other competitors, she is the most qualified for it.