Andrea Petkovic Leads German Tennis' Return to Prominence

There was a time when German tennis prospered with stars such as Steffi Graf and Boris Becker.

Both world No. 1 players became legends in their country.

Between the end of the '80s and the end of the '90s, tennis was so popular that there were a bunch of great tournaments around the country: Berlin, the Masters in Frankfurt, Masters 1000 in Hamburg and Stuttgart.

Moneymakers also came up with the idea of having the 16 best performers of the season at the four majors participate in the Grand Slam Cup, a million-dollar tournament happening the week before Christmas.

But all good things come to an end.

When Graf and Becker made the decision to retire, they left the kind of heritage Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang left in the United States when they quit.

Andy Roddick was the only one to live up to the expectations, while tennis in the Eastern part of Europe was exploding.

Meanwhile, in Germany, no player came close to the popularity Graf and Becker had.

Therefore, the Tommy Haas-Nicolas Kiefer generation had the burden of following in the footsteps of Graf and Becker, which they could not do.

Tennis ratings on television then began to drop, fewer children were interested in a tennis career and most of the big tennis tournaments in Germany had to be sold to countries where tennis was more prosperous, like Spain.

Nevertheless, recent results from the Fed Cup German team, the equivalent of the Davis Cup for the men, might bring a new wave of hope for Germany.

Andrea Petkovic is becoming more and more popular each month, while Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki have the ability to become top-10 players, though they might never rise to the popularity Graf had.

Tennis has become a worldwide sport, whereas the United States, Sweden and Germany dominated the tennis fields 20 years ago.

Behind the strength of its rising stars Petkovic and Goerges, the German team secured a spot in the World Group for 2012, while the USA was left making the kind of history it did not want.

Germany confirmed its status among the competition’s elite with a 5-0 victory at the Fed Cup World Group playoff tie in Stuttgart, but the result left USA facing relegation for the first time in the nation’s history.

Andrea Petkovic is one of the most amazing characters you will find on tour. The current world No. 19 already knows she wants to get involved in politics in her country, which is very unusual today in women's tennis.
 
Elsewhere, the 23-year-old's semifinal appearance in Miami was her best career performance to date.

On the road to the last four, Petkovic beat current world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic.

Her fitness, the physical battle she forces her opponents to go through and her great first serve are outstanding weapons.

Meanwhile, Julia Goerges had success over Ana Ivanovic, Sam Stosur and Dinara Safina in recent tournaments. The German claimed her first WTA title last summer at Bad Gastain (AUT) and reached last fall's final in Luxembourg.

As a Germany Fed Cup member, Goerges leads her encounters with an aggressive game. However, she will need to be more consistent in order to become a top-10 player.

Let's not forget Sabine Lisicki, who just beat Dominika Cibulkova and world No. 6 and Australian Open runner-up Na Li in Stuttgart.

The tall blonde's breakthrough year was 2008. In her first tournament, Lisicki caused a sensation by defeating Dinara Safina—who was at the top of her game at that time—in the Australian Open first round.

The 21-year-old's serve is the most effective one on the tour, along with the one of the Williams sisters.

Two years ago, Lisicki reached the quarterfinals of a major for the first time at Wimbledon and was close to reaching a top-20 spot in the standings.

Germany had not seen such positive results since Steffi Graf's last win at Roland Garros in 1999.

Petkovic, Goerges and Lisicki have the potential to win majors. Their hopes of topping Graf's 22 Grand Slam singles titles are slim, even combined, but at least they could lead the way for the rise of a second Steffi Graf.