US Open: Fine tuning for Angelique Kerber, Rafael Nadal & Co. in New York

Many stars have been in New York for a few days now and are preparing for the upcoming US Open (starting Monday) – including Wimbledon winner Angelique Kerber, defending champion Rafael Nadal and Grand Slam record champion Roger Federer.

Last weekend Angelique Kerber took a final breather. We went to East Hampton at the east end of Long Island, this recreational area just outside the Big Apple. Fill up on the madness that awaits not only the world ranking fourths at the upcoming US Open in Flushing Meadows.

The fourth and last Grand Slam tournament of the year demands nerves of steel, because out there in Queens, where the sports-loving Hollywood stars hold the handle, the landing planes thunder over the huge Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the spectators rustle with their French fries bags and the music always sounds a little more shrill than elsewhere in the tennis universe.

As Martina Navratilova recently said in her column on the WTA homepage. “You have to make friends with all these circumstances – and quickly. You just can’t waste too much energy on it, then it’s okay.”

Since the beginning of the week Kerber is also in New York to train. Like other title contenders like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Madison Keys, Serena Williams, Elina Svitolina & Co, “I feel this energy every time I come back here,” said 30-year-old Kerber.

No wonder the left-hander, who is one of the star guests at the traditional Kid’s Day on Saturday, made a completely relaxed impression during the units with success coach Wim Fissette (“Every opponent hates playing against Angie”).

Most of the memories of the “Crazy Major” are also positive at “Angie”. Two years ago she was able to suppress all the typical “background noises” in Flushing Meadows and won her second Grand Slam crown after the Australian Open in the same year by beating Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) in the final in three sets.

In 2011, Kerber reached the semi-finals in New York as the world’s number 92. It was her breakthrough – and on the most dazzling of all tennis stages, after she had just toyed with the idea of ending her professional career due to continued failure. But in Grandma Maria’s kitchen in Poland Kerber made the decision to attack again. The result is known…

Roger Federer, by the way, who won the US Open five times between 2004 and 2008, trained on Wednesday in a blue shirt showing the “Statue of Liberty”. Defending champion Rafael Nadal was not so imaginative, but more colourful. The industry leader joined his unit in a bright red shirt at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the world’s largest tennis arena.