Serena Williams' and Maria Sharapova's achievements on the court make them tennis legends, but Andrea Petkovic says they also changed how tennis players are perceived.
It has been over two years since Williams announced she would retire after the 2022 US Open. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion's legendary career came to an end after a third-round loss at Flushing Meadows to Ajla Tomljanovic.
Most consider Williams to be the greatest female tennis player ever. With her blistering and powerful brand of tennis, she lifted the standard of the women's game to a new level.
Although Sharapova's achievements are not as significant as Williams', she is also a tennis legend, having won five Grand Slams, reached world No. 1, and secured several other titles during her illustrious career.
Unfortunately, some feel Sharapova's superb career was tainted by a doping scandal that saw her banned for 15 months. After returning, she was never the same player and retired in February 2020.
Williams utterly dominated her rivalry with Sharapova, who recently gave Coco Gauff advice about her next coach. After losing two of her first three matches against her, including the 2004 Wimbledon final, Williams won their last 19 contests, finishing with a 20-2 head-to-head record.
However, former player and respected analyst Andrea Petkovic says the pair also made it acceptable for tennis stars to have interests outside of the sport while also being successful on the court.
In an appearance on the AO Show podcast, Petkovic recounted how she kept her hobbies outside of tennis private when she first got onto the WTA Tour, but Williams and Sharapova made having other interests normal.
"When I started it was kind of frowned upon to have multiple interests and I really think Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams changed all that. I think they were the first ones."
"I’ve always had my interests and my hobbies and my books, my writings and all these other things but I would almost not talk about it because I thought I have to be focused on what I do, playing tennis."
Petkovic, who recently said she knew Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka were destined for greatness, said Williams and Sharapova changed the narrative with their respective creative and business interests.
"And Maria and Serena kind of brought the narrative to another level where they were like, 'No, I do design furniture and I’m a nail specialist in Serena and I am a businesswoman in Maria."
"They changed the narrative of an athlete in general, not only tennis players. And it was okay to do other things. And I felt much more comfortable after that to talk about the things that I had and I always saw it as an add-on not a takeaway to my game. Something that can strengthen me mentally and not take away from me mentally."
Players do talk more openly now about their interests outside of tennis, although there has been much criticism of the calendar by some ATP and WTA stars. The length of the tennis season might stop players from fully pursuing their other hobbies.
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