KERB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
Angelique out to KO Serena’s Wimbledon fairytale
ON the face of it Angelique Kerber is on the ultimate hiding to nothing today.
Not only is the German about to come face-to-face with the greatest player the women’s game has seen – having lost to her on this very stage two years ago – but this time she’s also standing in the way of the greatest fairytale the sport will ever have known.
To beat Serena Williams on Centre Court is tough enough. But to deny the 36-year-old an eighth title here – just 10 months after she was fighting for her life after the birth of her baby daughter? With her pal the Duchess of Sussex watching on from the Royal Box?
You’d need a heart of stone to smash a hole in this Hollywood script but Kerber is determined to give being the baddy her best shot. That said, even if the No.11 seed can find a way of working this miracle against the rampant returning American, her respect for Williams will remain undiminished.
“She’s a fighter. She’s a champion. That’s why she is where she is now,” was how Kerber put it as she looked ahead to the rerun of a thrillingly competitive 2016 final, which Williams found a way of winning in two sets.
Since then the American has had more pressing matters to deal with.
The new mum required major surgery after complications in the delivery of daughter Olympia. She was bed ridden for a month and a half afterwards, unable even to walk never mind hit a tennis ball.
That she is here now is beyond remarkable.
Kerber said: “When I look at what Serena has come through I see a champion. Serena is one of the best players in the world and we’ve had so many great matches in the last years. So seeing her back, it’s great.
“She is always pushing you to the limits to play your best tennis. This is the only chance I’ll have to beat her.
“She is also full of confidence which makes her even more dangerous. She knows how it feels to win on this stage – I don’t know how many times she has won on this court.”
But 30-year-old Kerber is also surprised to have got this far at SW19, albeit for more mundane reasons.
Two years ago she was on top of the tennis world having won the Australian and US Opens – and being pipped at the post by Williams at Wimbledon.
But a drastic slump the following year saw her slide back down the rankings. When Kerber returned to Flushing Meadows to defend her US crown she was bombed out in the first round – after falling at the same hurdle on clay at the French.
But 2018 has been a different story. A semi finalist in Australia, a quarter-final in France and now a showdown with Williams at Wimbledon. She said: “I’ll have to play my best tennis to beat her, especially on the grass, on the Centre Court.
“I’m just really proud to being back in the Wimbledon final after last year where things weren’t like everybody expected them to be.
“So it’s a great feeling to be back competing for Slams
again.”
Serena is a fighter, a champion. That’s why she’s here ANGELIQUE KERBER