Australian Open: In the feel-good oasis: Kerber has arrived again

The Houdini qualities are back – and with them the feel-good factor: Angelique Kerber has continued her triumphant march in Melbourne and is back in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in about 16 months.

From Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne

Even after the interview marathon Angelique Kerber still seemed to be very lively. She walked radiantly from one room to the other on the fourth floor of the media centre to answer every journalist’s last question in detail. Even the one after her favorite app on a smartphone or the one she would buy at the supermarket just before closing time.

The 30-year-old was visibly relieved after her first quarter-final appearance with a major since September 2016, over her demonstrated fighting spirit on the big stage – and the rediscovered Houdini qualities, which seemed to have magically disappeared in the last crisis year,”It was something special to shoot this match, I was standing with my back to the wall. But I always believed that I would succeed,”said Kerber after 4-6,7-5,6-2 in the last sixteen against Su-Wei Hsieh, who played just as unorthodoxly as he played big. The Taiwanese had previously sent home the Spanish Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and the Polish Agnieszka Radwanska, among others.

With 4:5 and 0:15 on their own serve, Kerber was already behind in the second set, but today the head, body and heart had played together,”she described the successful melange, which also convinced Boris Becker:” The Kerber of 2017 would have lost this match. It’s a good feeling that it is regaining its old strength,”said the Eurosport expert. Well aware that the former number one is already the same again. In a new guise – matured and successful. Angie 2.0, so to speak.

“I can run forever!”, Kerber emphasizes again and again these days. It sounds like a homage to 2016, when the physical fitness of the two-time Grand Slam winner was the cornerstone for her very personal moon landings in Melbourne and New York. Last but not least, the new coach Wim Fissette has ensured that attitude and fundamentals are right again:”The goal is to fight for every point,”the Belgian had announced. The 13th. Victory in the 13th. Match of the year is an outstanding interim testimony for Fissette,”but,”explained the left-handed woman,”we’re just at the beginning of our cooperation”.

Kerber was asked on Monday whether she was even better than in 2016:”I don’t know, the season has just begun”. I want to control them even better,”the Fed Cup player revealed. A test of patience as against Hsieh, the miracle bag with two-handed forehand, is not expected in the match for the jump into the semi-finals on Wednesday.

If Kerber wins the next match against US Open finalist Madison Keys (USA/No. 17), she will be number one in Germany again and return to the top 10. The Kieler has won six of seven duels against the hard-hitter from Rock Island, who is coached by Dieter Kindlmann from Munich and the former number one Lindsay Davenport. The aggressive gameplay of the world rankings-20. Keys is played by counter-player Kerber, who seems to be completely relaxed these days. On Australian TV she told about her hobby – photographing sunsets all over the world.

Also on the St. Kilda Beach has already drawn her smartphone to expand her “Sunset”collection of pictures. No doubt about it: Kerber has found her inner peace. This is not because the obligations outside the tennis court have decreased. However, she has now learned to deal with it and enjoy it more openly and successively. The disorientation and emptiness that paralysed them last year have disappeared. 2017 was a learning process for me,”Angie confirmed. It appears to be harvesting its first fruits as early as the beginning of 2018.