SHANGHAI, CHINA – JULY 21: The flags of Australia, the United States and Germany fly after the Team Open Water 5km medal ceremony during Day Six of the 14th FINA World Championships at the Jinshan City Beach on July 21, 2011 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Mistakes with national anthems are rare. Which is great, as when they happen they’re incredibly offensive. The United States Tennis Association made a big one on Saturday.

The US was hosting Germany in a Fed Cup match played in Hawaii, and prior to the first match when Alison Riske played Andrea Petkovic, the USTA goofed big time and played a stanza of the anthem that dated back to Nazi-era Germany. Obviously and understandably, Petkovic was displeased.

“I thought it was the epitome of ignorance, and I’ve never felt more disrespected in my whole life, let alone in Fed Cup, and I’ve played Fed Cup for 13 years now and it is the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” Petkovic said following her loss.

She also considered walking off after as the wrong anthem was played, as she said in the German portion of her news conference. Petkovic was born in Bosnia but moved to Germany when she was six months old.

Here is the USTA’s official statement:

“The USTA extends its sincerest apologies to the German Fed Cup team and all of its fans for the performance of an outdated national anthem prior to today’s Fed Cup competition,” the statement read. “In no way did we mean any disrespect. This mistake will not occur again, and the correct anthem will be performed for the remainder of this first-round tie.”

Riske apologized on behalf of her teammates:

“As it was happening, obviously, we have no idea,” Riske said. “But news got around to us, and it’s extremely unfortunate. We have nothing but respect for the German team, and obviously, that will not happen again.”

Riske beat Petrovic 7-6 (10), 6-2 and the match between Australian Open semifinalist CoCo Vandeweghe and Julia Goerges was suspended due to rain with Vandeweghe leading 6-3, 3-1. Goerges ended up retiring when the match resumed today.

[ESPN]

About Matt Lichtenstadter

Recent Maryland graduate. I've written for many sites including World Soccer Talk, GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Testudo Times, Yahoo's Puck Daddy Blog and more. Houndstooth is still cool, at least to me. Follow me @MattsMusings1 on Twitter, e-mail me about life and potential jobs at matthewaaron9 at Yahoo dot com.