As of: April 2, 2024, 6:19 p.m
By: Michael Schleicher
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Serving as a farewell: “It was time to start the process of letting go,” writes Andrea Petković about the end of her tennis career. © Marijan Murat/dpa
Andrea Petković has presented her new book “Time to get away”. In it, the ex-professional player not only talks about saying goodbye to the tennis circus. Our criticism:
Anyone who knows a little about tennis will discover a lot about this sport in Andrea Petković's writing style: in the ex-professional player's new book there are sentences like rallies from the baseline. Others, on the other hand, drop as dryly as they read, like the felt ball screwing into the red sand just behind the net after a stop ball. And the joy is particularly great when the 36-year-old places her observations and comments as confidently as a forehand volley. The nice thing, however, is that even those who have no idea about white sport will read “Time to Get Out”
(Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne, 224 pages; 23 euros)
with joy and profit - and that's not it only in the tie-break.
Andrea Petković was in the top ten in the tennis world
Petković, born in Bosnia in 1987 and raised in Darmstadt, picked up a tennis racket for the first time when he was six; As a professional, she was among the top ten in the world in 2011 and 2014. Two years ago she said goodbye to competitive sports at the US Open. At that time, she had long since become a successful author - she now writes columns for “Die Zeit” and “Sports Illustrated”, and her first book was published in 2020. “The night lies between fame and honor” was its title, and Petković made it clear that It's about more to her than just producing supplies for the stack of celebrity books that is already far too high.
In her new work she deals with a topic that concerns us all at some point: saying goodbye. In 13 chapters, headed by the names of the months (two are dedicated to September), she tells the story of the year in which she ended her career. Of course, the decision to quit has a different dimension for professionals (regardless of their background) than for us normal people; after all, sport not only defined their everyday life, but Petković himself, her entire identity. For the first-person narrator in the book, it's about shedding one identity - and developing, building and living a new one. This is worth reading, far beyond the individual story.
Things are currently going well for former professional tennis athlete and author Andrea Petković. © dpa
Because Petković condenses emotional processes and cleverly interweaves them again and again with insights into the women's professional tour, into training processes and also into the pretty stories beyond the center court, of psychology and physics. Fortunately, the author avoids any indiscreet chatter from the dressing room. To be sure, their approach is radically subjective. But you succeed in uncovering what is generally valid in the personal and reporting on what “letting go” does to a person. Physically, mentally, socially. Change doesn't care whether your name is listed in the world rankings or not.
“Time to Get Out” is the second book by Andrea Petković
These are all topics that often come up with your unloved doubles partners in the training hall. Such as: pathos, fortune cookie litany or “just do it” sentences. As unnecessary but inevitable as the rain at Wimbledon. Nobody needs it - and they certainly don't want to read about it. “Time to Get Out” avoids any calendar page prose; it is the author's greatest achievement. Because she looks closely, writes precisely and, above all, with laconicism, often with dry humor and a pleasant self-irony. The fact that one would have wished for more courageous editing at one point or another – was a gift. Petković has a good sense of her narrative flow and perspectives. Her tone is not loud even when she writes about pain and defeat. She really experienced enough of that during her active time. It's good that this is over - and we can read about it.