LINZ, Austria - Straight after reaching the biggest WTA final of her career in Beijing and posting a new career-high ranking of No.9, Andrea Petkovic was forced to withdraw from Linz due to a right knee injury. The German No.1 still made the trip to the Generali Ladies Linz however, meeting the press and her many, many fans, among several other off-court activities the last few days.

The 24-year-old Petkovic talked a little bit about the aforementioned injury.

"It's the same as before. My inner meniscus is torn. Because of that my knee isn't as stable as it normally is. I have exercises I do every day for it, but those exercises make my muscles slower. When I start winning matches I keep doing the exercises, but then things like this happen and my knee just blocks, and starts hurting again. I'll take a few more days off now then see if my doctor can help. But it's nothing more and nothing less than the torn meniscus.

"For it to get better I would need six or eight weeks during the off-season to stabilize my knee like it was before the meniscus injury in Cincinnati. I'd have to do the exercises, get the swelling out - there's swelling - and stabilize it.

"I'm going to have to the exercises for the rest of my tennis career."

Before withdrawing from Linz, Petkovic was one of three WTA stars still in the running for the eighth spot in the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, but now Agnieszka Radwanska and Marion Bartoli are the only contenders - but on the flip side, Petkovic is guaranteed to be one of the two alternates, and will also likely qualify for the other year-end tournament in Bali, Indonesia.

Petkovic was also asked about the Istanbul-Bali double opportunity.

"For me, this is the longest season of my career. It's going to be a tough last few weeks because I feel my body isn't 100% healthy right now. I will be going to Istanbul no matter what, and even if someone pulls out and I play one or two matches, I will be going to Bali too. Bali is so far away but is really nice and so relaxing, and maybe I can take some days off after the tournament there. I think it will be fine. But I hope my body can cope with the last few tournaments!"