She shows the talents: "Solid" Petkovic dares to dance after winning

The young German tennis talents have to pack their things at Hamburg's Rothenbaum after just one game.

She shows the talents: "Solid" Petkovic dares to dance after winning

The young German tennis talents have to pack their things at Hamburg's Rothenbaum after just one game. The experienced Andrea Petkovic does it much better. She plays concentrated, wins the first game and does a little dance on the "most beautiful center court in the world".

Andrea Petkovic started a spontaneous little dance and for the first time there was really loud cheering on the center court at Rothenbaum in Hamburg. The German number two, last year's finalist and tournament ambassador at the traditional tennis event, confidently made it into the round of 16.

Petkovic showed her routine in the 6:3, 6:3 win against local hero Tamara Korpatsch and was happy about the successful start. "Overall it was solid from me. But there are still a few adjustments to be made," said the 34-year-old, who once heralded her long career with a performance on the Elbe. "It's the most beautiful center court in the world," she said. In the round of the top 16, eight seeded Petkovic now has to deal with the Japanese Misaki Doi.

Previously, Eva Lys, the 20-year-old German champion from the Hanseatic city, had to pack her things. The lack of consistency during her 5-7, 6-3, 2-6 loss to Argentina's Maria Carle robbed her of a chance for more. 18-year-old Munich-based Marko Topo also lost to Slovakian Alex Molcan 5:7, 3:6 and is still waiting for his first victory at tour level.

For the first time in 44 years, men's and women's competitions will take place in parallel in Hamburg - a unique selling point in the German tournament landscape. But it is questionable whether this will remain so in the long term. The German Tennis Association (DTB) is aiming to reassign the men's license from 2024, which the current organizers Sandra and Peter Michael Reichel clearly criticized in advance. "Our task as the DTB is to find the best solution for the association, which is why we have made a new call for tenders," said DTB President Dietloff von Arnim recently to the "Hamburger Abendblatt".

But now the sporting headlines from the Elbe should first penetrate again - Petkovic contributed to this. For women, however, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Jule Niemeier also wants to write her next success story. However, she dampened expectations given her recent program.

"Because the past few weeks have been very intense for me and I've lost a lot of grains, I don't come here with the claim of winning the tournament," said the 22-year-old from Dortmund. "Even though I played in the semifinals here last year."