WHAT’S ON KERBER

ANGELIQUE KERBER was born on Germany’s Baltic coast, but for her Wimbledon feels like the green, green grass of home.

Especially this year when she will walk back through the All England Club gates as defending champion.

It is not new territory for the 31-yearold former world number one who on two other occasions arrived for the start of a grand slam having won it the year before.

But she has never experienced that at Wimbledon – the title she cherishes the most.

“I think maybe it’s the same but different in some ways because Wimbledon was the tournament I was looking forward to win one day,” lefthander Kerber said at Eastbourne this week. “I think when I get there it will be very emotional and I will have a lot of great memories. I’m really happy to go back there and enjoy the memories, the people, the place.

“It’s always really special, but especially this time.”

Kerber won the Australian Open and US Open in a remarkable 2016, but struggled the following year.

She was back to her best last year, reaching the semi-final of the Australian Open, the quarters in Paris, before convincingly beating Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final when many had already given the title to the American.

This year there has again been a slump although illness and injuries, rather than the loss of drive of 2017, have been the root cause. An ankle injury during the claycourt season left her struggling and she lost in the first round of the French Open. That, she says, may have been a blessing. | Reuters