Kerber shows glimpses of old self in win over Errani
dubai — For Angelique Kerber, the year 2017 was a far cry from her life’s greatest triumphs in 2016 — a year in which she took the tennis world by storm, winning two Grand Slams in Melbourne and New York and finishing second only to the peerless Serena Williams at Wimbledon.
The phenomenal year also propelled the German to the world number one ranking. But then the wheels came off in rather stunning fashion, throwing her out of the top 20 last year. Now the New Year has seen glimpses of the old Kerber as the 30-year-old player is beginning to find her top form, winning the Sydney International title, her first tournament success since her 2016 US Open triumph, before losing an epic Australian Open semifinal to Simona Halep.
And, on Wednesday, Kerber booked her second straight quarterfinal ticket following her run to the last-eight stage in Doha last week. “You know, I am trying to improve my game every week, every practice. I mean, there are still few things I can still improve on,” the current world number nine told reporters after setting up a Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarterfinal clash with Karolina Pliskova with a 6-4 6-2 win over Qualifier Sara Errani of Italy.
“I think this is always important, that you have something where you can really put your focus on and trying to, yeah, improve your game.” Kerber then revealed the secret to her resurgence.
“Because I forgot 2017, maybe, I don’t know,” she smiled.
“You know, I tried to start the new season by just trying to take all the experience that I took from the last two years, especially from last year where I learned a lot,” she said. “Now I think, as a player, I have much more experience, all the ways: losing, winning, also on court, off court. I think this also makes me feel little bit stronger going into the tournaments.”
The sixth seeded German was not on Centre Court in Dubai on Wednesday. And the former world number one said it’s fine to play on the side courts. “To be honest, right now I am really not thinking about which court I am playing on. I mean, of course it’s always nice to play on the center court,” she said.
“But for me, it’s more like I don’t care which court now. For me it’s always important now to win the matches and focusing more on my opponent, on my game, on the next round. That is what is important. If you win, then you get the center court. This is always like this.
“I mean, I know how to play on the center court. I know how to play on the outside court. It’s just about your mentality, just focusing on not the schedule, more on the game.” Kerber, a late bloomer whose first Grand Slam came when she was 28, hopes to continue playing at the highest level in her mid 30s.
“I don’t know yet, but I think the experience that I have right now, it’s really important, especially in this game style, how you play. You have to be really fit. It’s always important. Tennis has changed a little bit,” she said.
“But, of course, there are a lot of good players in the women’s game, especially like Roger (Federer) in the men’s game. They are a little bit older, but still playing, winning, staying in the top 10, the top 5.
“I think it’s about how you schedule your year and how you do your routines.”
So has she overcome that heartbreaking Australian Open semifinal defeat to Halep? “I think it was a match that I was giving everything I could. I mean, it was such a tough match,” said Kerber who failed to clinch two match points in that twohour-20-minute three-set battle at Rod Laver Arena. “But, you know, of course, I need few days when I came back home. I was thinking about the whole trip. “But at the end it was more important to take the positives. I won so many matches in January. I came back from 2017. That was more my focus. “I know how close I am again to being up there. This is what counts for me. “I know how to win matches with match point down, like I won in Australia when I won it in 2016. “So that’s tennis, you know!”
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com