Andrea Petkovic, who lost to Carla Suarez Navarro in the Miami semifinals, says she’s happy to see the Spaniard and her unusual game inside the WTA Top 10. Suarez Navarro will be ranked there on Monday despite her loss to Serena Williams in the final.
Petkovic praised Suarez Navarro’s performances this season and was pleased to see her improving.
“I'm just happy for everything that comes her way, because she's always been humble and a nice girl,” said Petkovic. “She never changed. Whatever her ranking and whatever her game was, she was always the same.”
Petkovic added that Suarez Navarro's one-handed backhand and heavy topspin strokes make her game a distinctive one on tour.
“It's just great for tennis to have different types of players,” said Petkovic. “I think now with the young players coming up, like [Karolina] Pliskova, [Garbine] Muguruza, the hard hitters, it’s really nice to see that she has so much variety in her game and the one-handed backhand. The difference between the one-handed backhand, playing a one-hand backhand and a two-handed backhand is it goes off the court much more. It makes you move that one step further."