Petkovic and Mattek-Sands in Roland Garros: A Tale of Two Sets

PARIS—A good way to describe Andrea Petkovic and Bethanie Mattek-Sands: cult players. Skilled enough to have had excellent and rewarding careers, but also occupying that place separating aspirants from Grand Slam singles champions that can best be defined as indeterminate.

Petkovic and Mattek-Sands each bring considerable flair to the court. Extremely rare for a tennis player, Petkovic waxes on literature, politics, art, culture. She is likely the only player to have played Fed Cup and absorbed the works of Nietzsche, Saul Bellow, Oscar Wilde and many other authors that earn friendly nods from liberal arts majors. Petkovic revealed today that she’s reading a massive biography of Barack Obama.

While Petkovic reads extensively, Mattek-Sands is a fanciful character in her own right. Everything from her colorful outfits to eclectic series of all-court tactics give the American literary qualities, her life and tennis game a spiral-bound notebook chockfull of notions, compositions, emoticons and squiggles. Game plans? Yes. Audibles at the line of scrimmage? Even better. Mid-point alterations? All day, baby.

So it was that just prior to 2:00 p.m., Petkovic and Mattek-Sands walked out to play their second-round match on Court 8, a tiny field court with a capacity of 590.

Such is the life of a cult player. Four years ago, Petkovic had made it to the semifinals at Roland Garros. But 12 months later she’d lost in the first round  and was now ranked 107th. Mattek-Sands, twice a doubles champion at Roland Garros, had a year ago reached the third round of the singles, taking out No. 15 seed Petra Kvitova. But a horrific knee injury Mattek-Sands suffered at Wimbledon had taken her out of the game for nearly eight months, during which time Mattek-Sands’ singles ranking had plummeted to No. 202.

A good way to describe this match would be to hijack the title of a book set partially in Paris, Charles’ Dickens A Tale of Two Cities. Call Petkovic versus Mattek-Sands A Tale of Two Sets.

Petkovic won eight of the first nine points. This set the tone for a bully-like first set. If Mattek-Sands had any ideas, it was hard to even get a word in edgewise, Petkovic’s depth and accuracy a form of sustained oppression. Just about every time Petkovic hit a groundstroke, she emitted a grunt with this sound: “Ooooffff – ta.” Given her appetite for words, did it mean anything? Google turned up “Uff da,” a Norwegian exclamation for bafflement, surprise, dismay.

None of that applied to Petkovic, who sealed up the first set, 6-0, in 27 thunder-like minutes.

Match point from Petkovic's win over Mattek-Sands in Roland Garros:

But even pros find a 6-0 opening-set win seductive. Win one 6-2 or 6-3 and it’s a tussle well-fought and hard-earned—an outcome that might lull even the loser into a form of tactical complacency. But a bagel begets innovation, doubly so given the pinball machine-like contraption that sparkles within Mattek-Sands’ brain.

Said Petkovic, “that’s kind of a dangerous thing when you win the first set 6-0, because I think I was playing really aggressive and really deep, and I also kind of forced her to make mistakes. But when someone is missing a lot, you sometimes tend to play it safe; right? So I think she started playing much better in the second set, and I had to find a good balance between still being aggressive and not play it too safe.”

Standing closer to the baseline, shortening her backswing, stepping inside the court, Mattek-Sands broke Petkovic at 1-all. Petkovic, keen to hoist Mattek-Sands back inside the jail cell, began to press, her flat drives now either finding the net or flying inches long. Mattek-Sands went up 4-2.

From A Tale of Two Cities: “And yet I have had the weakness, and have still the weakness, to wish you to know with what a sudden mastery you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire.”

In other words, Petkovic broke back—and in rather diversified fashion. With Mattek-Sands serving at 4-3, love-15, Petkovic ran down a drop shot and countered with one of the more luscious shots in tennis, a carved backhand, deftly sliced crosscourt. At 15-30, Mattek-Sands attempted to serve and volley but was drilled by a backhand return. Petkovic went on to break at 30, hold to go up 5-4 and rapidly reached love-30 on Mattek-Sands’ serve.

Here again, showing the same kind of resilience that fueled her comeback from injury, Mattek-Sands rallied—not just steadily, but boldly. On the love-30 point, she cracked a down-the-line forehand that just touched the line for a winner. At 30-all, a forehand drop shot winner. Soon it was 5-all.

The rather herky-jerky quality of the Petkovic service motion does not always inspire confidence. But in that tenth game, at 30-40, she aced Mattek-Sands. The two marched on towards a tiebreaker. Petkovic served at 3-0—and struck two straight double-faults. Mattek-Sands also won the next two points. With Petkovic now serving at 3-4, a third set seemed a strong possibility. Whether genius or madness, Petkovic laced a crosscourt forehand winner. Even once Mattek-Sands went up 5-4, Petkovic never let up, a pair of forehands and a backhand taking her to the victory. At 52 minutes, the second set had lasted nearly twice as long as the first.

Petkovic next plays the woman who took her out in the semis four years ago, first-seeded Simona Halep. Though Halep won that contest, 6-2, 7-6, their three matches since have all gone three sets.

“It's going to be a really tough, tough thing for me to play against,” said Petkovic. But it's going to be a big court again, so I'm going to do my best to enjoy it and play my best.”

Today, Petkovic emerged from the fringes of Court 8 to reach the third round of the major for the first time since 2015. While she intends to build a game plan with her coach, perhaps Petkovic’s engagement with President Obama’s life will also aid her cause.

Said Petkovic of Obama, “people tend to see this kind of persona the media made of him, but he was very pragmatic. And he really worked on his weaknesses. And he wasn't that charismatic guy to begin with, but he worked on his skills.”

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