[3] Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 at the age of 18.

That year, she played in the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam tournaments as well as a Premier Mandatory final at the China Open, and qualified as an alternate to the WTA Tour Championships.

She rebounded in 2014 by reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the 2014 French Open and later winning the WTA Tournament of Champions at the end of the season.

[10] Since the beginning of her professional career, she has kept a diary at irregular intervals about her life on the WTA Tour in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a major German newspaper.

She played her first Grand Slam tournament at the 2007 French Open where she reached the second round, after coming through the qualifying without losing a set and beating Jarmila Groth.

At the Australian Open in January 2008, in her first-round match against Anna Chakvetadze, she suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in her right knee after only two minutes of play.

[6] In the final, she beat Raluca Olaru.The following week, she reached the semifinals in Istanbul, losing to Lucie Hradecká in three tight sets.

For the rest of the year, she struggled to repeat her success but had another good tournament at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo where she came through the qualifying and reached the round of 16.

After she received a third-round walkover due to an injury to Peng Shuai, Petkovic lost her first career Arthur Ashe Stadium appearance to eventual tournament finalist Vera Zvonareva.

[7] Returning to the Brisbane International, and with coach Petar Popović, Petkovic improved on her previous best semifinal appearance by reaching the final, where she lost to Wimbledon semifinalist Petra Kvitová.

Petkovic reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, where she was defeated by eventual finalist Li Na, her best achievement in a Grand Slam championship of her career.

[13] Petkovic defeated world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, eventually reaching the semi-finals.

During the match, Petkovic received treatment for what was revealed the following day to be a double stress fracture of her spine and a spinal disc herniation.

She was forced out with what was later revealed to be torn ankle ligaments, which required surgery and kept her out for another four months, including the French Open, Wimbledon, and the London Olympics.

"[22][23] She then received a wildcard for the ITF Open de Marseille in June, which she won without dropping a set, beating Anabel Medina Garrigues in the final.

[24] Petkovic received a wildcard for the Wimbledon Championships, making only her second Grand Slam appearance since reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2011.

After a defeat to Petra Martić at the Gastein Ladies on 16 July, Petkovic traveled to America for the US Open Series.

Her first tournament was the Washington Open at the end of July, where she reached the final, losing to defending champion, Magdaléna Rybáriková.

In the first round of the Fed Cup World Group, Petkovic defeated Dominika Cibulková, the reigning Australian Open finalist, and contributed to a 3–1 win for Germany.

[25] After losing in results in Asia (Doha and Dubai) and also both Indian Wells and Miami, Petkovic won her third WTA title in Charleston.

She lost her first match convincingly to Carla Suárez Navarro, but beat Tsvetana Pironkova, Dominika Cibulková, and Garbiñe Muguruza to reach the final.

After losing in the first rounds of Brisbane, Sydney, and the Australian Open, Petkovic bounced back at the 2015 Fed Cup World Group by beating Sam Stosur and Jarmila Gajdošová.

She followed her good form by playing at the Diamond Games as the ninth seed, winning the title as Carla Suárez Navarro withdrew due to a neck injury.

Kim Clijsters, the tournament director, stepped in unexpectedly at the last moment and beat Andrea in a single set exhibition match.

After receiving a first round bye and suffering an early loss in Indian Wells, she reached the semifinals of the Miami Open for the second time in her career.

[40] At the French Open, Petkovic defeated Kristina Mladenovic[41] and Bethanie Mattek-Sands before losing to Simona Halep in the third round.

[43] In Washington, she defeated two seeded players Sloane Stephens and Belinda Bencic, before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.

[50] In September 2020, she returned to the WTA Tour, after an extended absence of almost a year, at the 2020 French Open where she lost in the first round to Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.

Petkovic started off her 2021 season at the Gippsland Trophy where she lost in the second round to the third seed Elina Svitolina in straight sets.

She wouldn't record another match win until Miami including a first-round loss at the Australian Open to Ons Jabeur.