"Nobody will care about poor little Andrea" - Petkovic jokes that Serena Williams retirement made it easier to announce hers

Serena Williams and Andrea Petkovic both retired from tennis and having the legend do it made it an easier choice for the German who was a fan favourite.

Petkovic didn't have as great of a career as Williams but she had a respectable one. A fan favourite for many years, she bid farewell to tennis last year at the US Open but there was very little talk. The world was mostly focused on Serena Williams but she understands that. She actually joked about it recently:

"So I knew the end was coming and then I decided 'Ok, US Open is going to be it' and I didn't wanna announce it actually cause I didn't wanna have that extra pressure and then my team was like 'Whoa, but you have to let your fans know'."

Petkovic continued:

"I wake up the next day, I turn on my phone and I have 100 direct messages on my phone, 'Serena Williams retiring at the US Open' and I was like 'Ok, now it doesn't matter, nobody will care about poor little Andrea at the US Open'

"It was actually, I have to say, looking back at it; it was much easier for me that Serena was retiring at the same time. A few German journalists asked me a bunch of questions and nobody else cared. And I could kind of go through all these emotions cause it was really hard and I feel like I saw it on Serena's face as well. For me, the transformation process was much harder than when I was actually done with it."