The rock 'n' roll-loving Andrea Petkovic, ranked No. 39, is one of pro tennis’ Twitter rock stars. The German player is into politics (she studies political science), video-blogging under the pseudonym Petkorazzi, and, of course, music, all of which she tweets about regularly. The 22-year-old right-hander won her first WTA tour title last year in Bad Gastein, but many hard-core fans follow her as much for her tweets as for her tennis. We talked to her about her Twitter obsession.
How did this whole Twitter thing come about?
I started Twitter exactly one year ago, during the U.S. tour. I have some friends who did some social media stuff in Germany. They told me, “You have to do this.” And I was like, “Yeah, OK—we’ll see.” But I love Twitter. It’s just 140 [characters], and you put what you think. And I started following a lot of people. When I don’t like what they tweet, I unfollow them [laughs]. But I always learn from it. I know what I don’t want to hear, so I try to always put something funny or different.
Do you have a goal in terms of tweets per day?
No, but I have a goal of 1 million followers[laughs]. If I reach that goal then…I will end my life, I think.
Serena Williams really does have a goal of getting to 2 million followers.
Actually I don’t follow her—maybe I should. But I don’t want her to [get] to 2 million, because I want to have 1 million [first]. Yeah, 1 million would be great. But I’m a long, long way to do that. [At the time of publication, she had 2,153 followers.]
Do you read all your replies?
Sometimes I do. During tournaments I don’t, because there are people who are mean sometimes. It’s not a lot—it’s like 1 in 50. But during tournaments I don’t want to get upset. Even if it’s just a second. But when I am off, then I don’t care. Then I read them.
Did you know Dinara Safina supposedly left Twitter because of some of the negative comments?
Well, I can understand. That’s why I try not to tweet about tennis at all. I don’t know if you follow me? You should. [laughs] It’s really annoying. Especially when you’re in a bad situation. She was injured for half a year, so it’s tough to come back. There are people who don’t understand those situations. And they [can be] really mean, so I can understand that. That’s why I try not to tweet about tennis, and then I don’t get a lot about my tennis. Of course when I lost to Svetlana [Kuznetsova] with four match points [at the French Open], 500 people were tweeting me, “Oh, what a choke, what a choke.” [laughs]
So you’re not going to try to talk Dinara out of leaving Twitter?
I will try, because I follow her and she has some nice tweets. And she always posts pictures—I like that. So I will try to talk her out of it. I practice with her. I didn’t know that she was going to stop tweeting. Yeah, that’s not nice of people.
And you tried to get Ana Ivanovic on Twitter. How did that go? Will you try again?
I tried. I will try again, but she’s a really tough one to convince. She said it’s already tough for her to keep in touch with her friends and family, so I understand. But I think it’s like an addiction. If she would start, then she would [keep doing it]. Especially now…she had a great win yesterday. I will try to put some pressure.
What player do you most think should join Twitter?
Ana Ivanovic. Serena is on Twitter, Caroline [Wozniacki] is on Twitter. Who is not on Twitter? Do you have any idea?
Elena Dementieva, Ivanovic, even Agnieszka Radwanska…
She’s not? Surprising, because she could be funny.
Do you wish people would ask you more about tennis instead of Twitter?
Hmm, no, no…because I’d rather talk about Twitter than about tennis. [laughs] Well, not always. It’s funny, because I’m more popular about Twitter than about my tennis, I think. Which is quite strange. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I put a lot of thinking into my Twitter. I try to do it perfectly and phrase it well, so it’s good to get something back.
So you think a lot about what you should tweet?
No, but I think a lot about how I should tweet. I don’t tweet a lot, but when I tweet I want it to be on point. So if I really have something that I want to tell people, then I tweet. It’s never like, “I should tweet today. What should I tweet?” And I put a lot of time into putting it perfectly so that everybody understands.
Because sometimes…for example, I tweeted in German, “Boateng, we know where your car is.” So I got a lot of tweets. From one guy I got back, “Are you seriously spreading violence because you’re an important sports personality? You cannot spread violence.” I was like, “OK, it’s a joke.” [laughs] So since then I’m really cautious about what I tweet, because some people don’t get humor at all. They thought now I’m really going to go and crash his car, which I really didn’t want to do.
You often tweet a “favorite person list.” Who’s on it today?
Today, myself because I won. And you can be second because you didn’t talk about tactics.