Andrea Petkovic revealed her exceptional napping skills helped her stay calm during the three-and-a-half-hour rain delay on Wednesday after which she stepped on court and defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-2 to make her first-ever Dubai quarter-final.
Last year, the German walked off Court 1 in a fit of rage having lost her opener to Zarina Diyas and risked getting defaulted for accidentally throwing her racquet at a line judge.
Wednesday, Petkovic walked off the neighbouring Court 3 with a big smile, signing autographs and celebrating a comfortable win against a tough opponent and former Dubai runner-up.
“I’m not a world champion in tennis yet, but I’m a world champion in taking naps. So if you tell me ‘Andrea take a nap now’, I’ll take a nap. It is a good skill and it helped me tremendously. Every time I knew it was going to take a while (for the rain to stop), I took a nap and got through the day,” Petkovic told Sport360 after her win.
“I felt I played really well. I saw that Jelena was a little tired so I really tried to stay in the rallies and make her run.”
Petkovic had never won back-to-back matches in Dubai prior to this week but she now has an interesting clash with Caroline Garcia who upset No. 3 seed Carla Suarez Navarro in an epic three-setter, that was halted by the rain when the Frenchwoman was serving for the match.
“I’ve always loved this tournament but I never did well here because I also liked the indoor tournaments in Europe so I preferred to stay there and came late here,” explained Petkovic. “But this year I wanted to do well here because I felt I had the game. So I came four or five days early this time and it really helps because the ball does fly and it is different to play here.
“God don’t remind me of last year, I already had it in the back of my mind. That was not my best moment I would say.”
Petkovic is 2-0 head-to-head against Garcia with their most recent meeting being a tight three-setter in the US Open first round.
“I’ve played her a couple of times, once on grass and at the US Open last year and it was a very close match, 7-5 in the third, and I think this court suits her as well so it’s going to be really tough,” said the 28-year-old.
“But I’m playing really well so I just have to focus on my game and then I will get my chances hopefully.”
