Australian Open: Kerber:”That all are proud has built me up”

Angelique Kerber was saddened after having missed her way into the Australian Open finals. But the revived Kieler is sure to have managed to turn the tide.

From Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne

Angelique Kerber was in deep emotional chaos. The semi-finals lost after big fight, but down under won so many things (back). The turn for the good after a nightmare season in 2017 has been made, but a huge opportunity has been missed. The torness gnawed at the dejected Kerber as she walked through the catacombs of “her” Rod Laver Arena for the last time this year.

Looking at the display on her smartphone during the difficult hour after her missed entry into the final of Melbourne, she was at least the first comforting thing in her life:”I received a lot of news that everyone is proud of the way I left my heart in the air. That builds me up a bit,”said Kerber after the 3:6,6:4,7:9 in a memorable and high-class semi-final against top seeded Romanian Simona Halep. And she added with a firm voice:”I know I’m back and I can play good tennis again”, only the icing on the cake was missing down under. The circle would have closed at the very place where Angie’s first Grand Slam victory in 2016 saw her very personal moon landing.

In the decisive set, the Kieler had forgave two match points against Halep at the score of 6:5 and her own serve – the crazy race to catch up with “insane exchanges of balls”, as she herself said, was not rewarded. I don’t feel I’ve lost the game, she won it in the end,”Kerber analyzed the 2:20 hour exchange of blows, where the 30-year-old played into a real intoxication after a sleepy start (0:5 after 13 minutes) and “I don’t know how I did it, because my legs were more tired than in the days before,”she said.

Already during the 45-minute play-in with coach Wim Fissette at Court 16 on Thursday noon, Kerber felt that she was physically “no longer at 100 percent”. Which was not surprising. In the past 25 days, the former number one has played 19 matches (15 singles and 4 mixed matches). She did not lose any of her singles at the Hopman Cup in Perth and the WTA tournament in Sydney. Now, of course, you could say it would have been better not to use Sydney to save energy, but “But there,”Kerber replied,”I got a lot of self-confidence for Melbourne,” sounds plausible and makes sense!

The left-hander tried everything at the Centre Court. She was not discouraged by Halep’s 50 windfall profits either. In terms of fighting spirit, Kerber was again the old one, the Angie of 2016 – in a new guise, so to speak. Matured and confident. The most important thing for me is to fight again on the court and keep my heart on the court. I think I’ll take this with me for the rest of the year,”she announced after her first defeat after 14 wins in 14 matches.

On Friday Kerber will start her 21 hour flight home. If someone had told me a few weeks ago that I would have won so many matches in a row, I would have won a title early in 2018 and played in the Melbourne semi-finals – I don’t know if I would have believed it,”she said. As a reward, it will be ranked ninth in the ranking starting Monday. And thus belong to the top ten for the first time since September 2017. Barbara Rittner, Head of Women’s Tennis at the DTB, praised the still young collaboration with the Belgian Fissette, which is fruitful:”It’s so much fun to see Angie perform in such a relaxed manner again,”said Barbara Rittner, Head of Women’s Tennis at the DTB, in a tennisnet conversation.

Kerber is finally back in enjoyment mode. It is a situation that she wanted to enforce with all means in the past season, but it has become more and more tense. A vicious circle. In the meantime, she is “100 percent certain”that in the off-season she has made the “right decisions” together with her prudent manager Aljoscha Thron. This included the change of coach to Fissette (37). She had to be ready for a new speech. Not an easy undertaking, but Kerber gradually opened up to input. Angie is in a condition in which she always believes in herself at every stage of a game,”Fissette praised.

The left-handed woman has rediscovered confidence in her game. I don’t think too much during the game and I don’t think too much about what was and what’s coming,”Kerber said.

In the next few days, she wants to relax in her native country,”just put the bat in the corner” and review the successful first weeks of the year. Your next tournament starts on 12. February in Doha. Kerber will attack again.”I’m ready to fight again,”she stressed. Then she left Melbourne Park. Still a bit sad, but somehow proud.