Andrea Petkovic is 100 percent certain that Roger Federer “would have stopped at 17 Grand Slams” if there were no Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. In the 2009 Wimbledon final, Federer was 27 when he defeated Andy Roddick for a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title.
Three years later, Federer 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 and he knew he had to continue improving.
Now, Djokovic owns a record 23 Grand Slam titles – Nadal has 22 – Federer finished with 20. Petkovic, a 2014 French Open semifinalist, says having a competition is very important. Because of that, Petkovic is happy that WTA world No 1 Iga Swiatek has gotten competition this year in the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
“I was so excited at the beginning of the year when Sabalenka won the Australian Open because I know from my personal experience and just from watching tennis for almost 20 years now, how important rivalries are.
I was worried if Iga Swiatek just dominates the tour for the next three, four years, that she won’t get better and won’t improve as a tennis player. That is a danger. If we put ourselves back into the shoes around 2009, when Roger Federer broke Pete Sampras’ number.
If Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic hadn’t appeared on the tour, he would’ve stopped at 17 [Grand Slam titles]. A 100%. We would’ve never seen these numbers. That’s the most important thing, not only in sports, [but also] in politics and art, where ever it is needed to create something really great, to create masterpieces, or to become the best at what you do, you need those rivalries.
I was so excited when Sabalenka and Rybakina found that consistency and started winning those big tournaments,”
