Andrea Petkovic is hopeful that she can return to the court in less than a month after injuring her right knee during her opening match at the Hopman Cup.
Petkovic retired after winning the first set against Australia's Ashleigh Barty on Saturday with a scan later revealing that she had ruptured her meniscus. She will immediately return to Germany for treatment and will miss the Australian Open when it starts Jan. 14.
The 25-year-old Tatjana Malek, ranked 113th, will fly in from Miami to replace Petkovic and partner Tommy Haas against Italy and Serbia at the Hopman Cup
''I had an MRI this morning and they found out it is a rupture of the medium meniscus,'' Petkovic said. ''They don't know yet if they have to trim it. If they do it will be fine and I will only be out for a month. I could probably be playing already after two weeks, hitting balls. That would be really great.
''If they have to sew it up again it will take two to three months, but nonetheless I'm quite relieved that it wasn't the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) as it was a very similar pain and symptoms to 2008 when I had my ACL torn in Australia.''
The injury is a further setback for Petkovic, who missed seven months of the 2012 season due to back and ankle injuries. Her ranking has dropped to No. 126 from the top 10.
''My team and are able to take it as tragically funny,'' she said. ''People are strange and actually get used to chaos in their life, and I got used to a lot of mess this year. Every bad thing that could happen happened to me so there's nothing there to surprise me anymore. I'm just hoping I can have a quick recovery.''
