PAST KEY TO KERBER’S SUCCESS
TENNIS: In 2017 Angelique Kerber surrendered two grand slam crowns and the world No.1 ranking.
Stripped of the sport’s most precious ornaments, Kerber was sent back to the fringes and, at 29, the German’s best was thought to have passed.
Instead of contending for, and winning titles as she had in 2016, Kerber was anchored in a clamouring pack.
But the lessons she learned last season and the recruitment of Kim Clijsters’ former coach Wim Fissette are the unlikely bedrock of an incredible Wimbledon victory.
“I think without 2017 I couldn’t win this tournament,” Kerber said after demolishing Serena Williams 6-3 6-3 to claim her first Wimbledon crown.
“I think I learned a lot from last year, with all the expectation, all the things I go through. “I learned so many things about myself. “Now, you know, I just try to improving my game, thinking not too much about the results, trying to being a better tennis player,
a better person, yeah, trying to enjoying my tennis again.”
Fissette overhauled Kerber’s game, adding more adventurous elements to impenetrable defence.
“We tried to improve my tennis from the beginning of the year,” Kerber said.
“To being more aggressive. We changed my serve a little bit. One of the keys today in this match, that I served good in the important moments, that my serve is a little bit faster than it was even last year.”
“There are few things we tried to change.” Kerber made only five unforced errors the entire match, 19 fewer than Williams. Perhaps more impressive was that she broke Williams in four of nine service games.
Williams, 36, who beat Kerber in the 2016 Wimbledon decider, has already started US Open preparations.
“I’m already deciphering what I need to improve on, what I need to do, what I did wrong, why I did it wrong, how I can do better,” she said.