Player Spotlight - Andrea Petkovic

Andrea Petkovic, a Bosnian born youngster now playing under the German flag, is starting to show the tennis world just how ready she is to be a legitimate contender on the WTA Tour.

Petkovic, only 22 years old, has a very powerful baseline game.  She is consistently aggressive from the baseline, using her forehand to push her opponents off the court.  She has a ton of talent, and is one of the smartest players you'll see on tour, utilizing all aspects of her game to keep her opponents on their toes.

Andrea turned pro back in 2006, but 2010 has really been her breakthrough year as a tennis professional.  She's won plenty of tournaments on the ITF Circuit (8 to be exact) and won her first WTA title last July in Bad Gastein.  Now with the title under her belt, she's hungry for more, especially at the Slams.

In her first tournament on the year in Brisbane, she made it to the semifinals before losing to Kim Clijsters who went on to win the tournament.  Her performance here moved her into the top 50 in the world rankings.  Her favorite surface is clay, and that's where she performed best this year.  She made it to the Round of 16 in both Rome and Madrid.  In Rome, she lost to Serena Williams, and in Madrid she lost to up-and-comer Aravane Rezai, neither of whom she should feel bad about losing to.

I first caught wind of her at the French Open.  She performed really well here, nearly upsetting this years defending champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round.  Despite having three match points on the Russian, Andrea failed to convert and fell in three tough sets.  Even though she lost this match, she proved to the tennis world that she is here and capable of doing well, really well.

The grass court season hasn't been great to her so far, losing in her opening match to Anne Chakvetadze in Birmingham last week.  Today, however, she beat 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic in Hertogenbosch, in a brilliant display of talent and athleticism, reminiscent of her incredible play at the French Open.

Even with all of this raw talent, the farthest Petkovic has ever made it in a Grand Slam is the second round, at the U.S. Open, Australian Open, and French Open.  With Wimbledon(a Slam she's never played) nearly upon us, Petkovic may find herself getting some beginner's luck going much deeper into the draw and greatly improving her best Slam result.  Now ranked 36th in the world rankings, Petkovic is proving she's ready to win.