Andrea Petkovic makes statement on Roger Federer’s Grand Slam successes
Andrea Petkovic is 100% sure Roger Federer ‘would have stopped at 17 Grand Slams’ if it weren’t for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. In the 2009 Wimbledon final, Roger Federer was 27 when he defeated Andy Roddick to win a record 15th Grand Slam title. Three years later, he won his 17th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, just before turning 30.
At the time, Nadal and Djokovic weren’t close to Federer’s Grand Slam numbers, but the Swiss knew they were coming soon and he had to keep improving. Today, Djokovic holds a record 23 Grand Slam titles, Nadal 22 and Federer 20.
Petkovic, a 2014 Roland-Garros semi-finalist, believes it is very important to have a competition. For this reason, Petkovic is happy that Iga Swiatek, world number one at the WTA, will be challenged this year by Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
Federer would have stopped at 17 Slams without Nadal and Djokovic
“I was very excited at the start of the year when Sabalenka won the Australian Open because I know from personal experience and watching tennis for almost 20 years now how important rivalries are. .
I was concerned that if Iga Swiatek dominates the circuit for the next three or four years, she would not improve and progress as a tennis player. It is a hazard. If we put ourselves in the context of 2009, when Roger Federer broke Pete Sampras’ record.
If Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had not appeared on the circuit, he would have stopped at 17 [titres du Grand Chelem]. 100%. We would never have seen those numbers. This is the most important thing, not only in sports, but also in politics and in art, wherever it is necessary to create something really great, to create masterpieces, or to become the best at what you do, you need rivalries. I was very happy when Sabalenka and Rybakina found that consistency and started winning big tournaments,” Petkovic said on Tennis Channel’s Inside-In podcast, via Sportskeeda.
2023-08-15 04:07:14
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