STANFORD, CALIF. — As she watches Serena Williams take another step toward history, chasing Steffi Graf and her 22 majors, as well as the first calendar year Grand Slam in more than a quarter-century, Andrea Petkovic says she can’t do much but sit back in awe and wonder.  

“I feel like she’s really above it,” says Petkovic, a first-round winner at the Bank of the West Classic on Monday (def. Carina Witthoeft 5-7, 6-1, 6-3). “I’m not in her head, but the way I see it from the outside, I don’t even think she should have pressure, because she’s just so above everything else. It’s difficult for me to put it in words, but she’s above all this — the media, the matches that we play, the tournament, the Grand Slam first rounds. She’s just reached another level. She’s reached legend level.”

The No. 16-ranked German says that although the American has long been an elite performer, 2015 is when Williams, 33, has really come into her own.

“She showed it because she wasn’t playing great, yet she won all three [majors],” she said. “That’s amazing to see and amazing to be part of.”

Petkovic then positioned her hands at two levels:  one high, one low.

“We are somewhere here and she’s up there.”

Petkovic, a thinking woman’s player who reads the late David Foster Wallace in her free time and is always seeking what she calls a “golden line” when it comes to achieving balance in her life both on and off the court, says it’s hard for her to relate to Williams and all she has achieved.   

“She’s one of a kind,” the 27-year-old asserted. “It’s difficult for me to look at Serena as a comparison when she’s so unique in the way she’s achieved things. When you want to learn from others, you kind of have to look at people who are more similar to you, or maybe just more like a regular person. I feel like Serena is just so different from everybody that I know. It doesn’t matter if it’s professional athletes or other athletes who have achieved a lot of things, she is just very, very strong willed and has these huge emotions inside of herself — that I have as well — but she can use them for her advantage, and that’s really amazing to see. She somehow triggers them and she can streamline them in the direction she needs them to go.”

“Maybe that’s why I admire her so much and why I always say Serena is one of my idols because she is so different from me,” added Petkovic. “You always want what you don’t have, probably.”

A player Petkovic says she can relate to more is fellow German Steffi Graf, the very woman Serena is chasing on the all-time Grand Slam honor roll. In fact, on Monday Petkovic addressed rumors that she had pursued the Hall of Famer in terms of potentially adding her to her team in some coaching capacity.

“I asked Steffi if she would be interested in coaching me, not really coaching but mentoring,” Petkovic revealed. “[But] she doesn’t want to travel at all — not even a few tournaments.”

Petkovic had crossed paths with Graf in Las Vegas during an Adidas-sponsored event, and that prompted her to reach out with her request via e-mail.

“I feel more connected to her — obviously not in terms of results — but just because the way she played tennis, the way she approached the game, the way she approached practice, how disciplined and how professional she was — very German, really…She doesn’t say a lot, but when she says it, she really hits the point.”

Petkovic also revealed that she has consulted with another German icon, six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker, not as a coach but as an on-call advisor of sorts.  Following her third-round loss to Italy’s Sara Errani at Roland Garros, Petkovic says she sat down with Becker and broke down the match. Becker later gave her his phone number and told her to call him whenever she needed advice. That meeting turned into several more at Wimbledon, where the pair often lunched together in the players’ restaurant.

“I just asked him — probably for him stupid questions — but just stuff that interested me and I wanted to know,” she explained. “I feel like he really helped me a lot. I got a little look into his head. It’s just good to have somebody that, when I have a question regarding Grand Slam champions that I cannot relate to — yet — it’s really good to have someone you can call up anytime.”