Angelique Kerber is 34 years old, three-time Grand Slam winner and former number one in the tennis world. The Kiel native is the greatest German tennis player since the era of Steffi Graf. Now it's off to Wimbledon, her favorite Grand Slam tournament. One last time?
For a long time, professional tennis has only been on probation for Germany's best tennis player. When her great career should end, "I don't want to say that just yet. I pushed the thought away for now," said three-time Grand Slam winner Kerber in 2020. "But if you've ever thought about it, you can nor can you delete it." At some point she will "feel" when it should be over.
Nothing changed in the summer of 2022, and the former number 1 in the tennis world no longer has a long-term plan. "See you next year," Kerber recently called out to the spectators in Bad Homburg's Kurpark after surprisingly losing her quarter-finals to French Alizé Cornet at the tournament there. So will she play in Bad Homburg again in 2023? The 34-year-old was very ambiguous: "I'll definitely be here. In what role, we'll see. But I'll definitely be here."
But now it's off to Wimbledon, that mythical site of tennis. In 2018, Kerber celebrated her third and last Grand Slam title here. And last year, the woman from Kiel, who had celebrated her first success in a Grand Slam tournament in 2021 on Church Road in the first round against Nina Stojanovic after two first-round defeats at the Australian Open and the French Open, surprisingly stormed into the semifinals .
The venerable facility in London's southwest is a source of energy for Kerber, who in the absence of the injured Alexander Zverev has to shoulder German expectations almost alone. "She just feels loved, recognized and admired by the English," explained the German women's boss Barbara Rittner during Kerber's triumphal procession in 2021: "Angie is a very emotional and passionate person, so that can do a lot."
In 2021, Kerber had the tournament victory in Bad Homburg in his luggage and traveled to England with plenty of tailwind, now the dress rehearsal does not allow any conclusions to be drawn as to what the German number one will really be able to do at their favorite Grand Slam tournament. At her home tournament, where the Kiel resident also acts as tournament director, she won two rounds with ease, and in the quarter-finals it was surprisingly over against Alizé Cornet. "It just wasn't my day today," said Kerber after the defeat. "Of course I'm disappointed, but I still know that I got everything I had in me today."
The preparation for their personal highlight of the year was much shorter than hoped: only three matches on grass now have to be enough after Kerber had given up the grass tournament in Berlin. That's not a problem: "In the end, it doesn't matter how many matches you've played before, Grand Slams have their own rules," she said on Saturday in London. "In the end" it "doesn't matter who you play against. The first rounds aren't that easy for me anyway, so I try to play my tennis from the start." Perhaps the last trip as a professional tennis player to Wimbledon should become a long journey: "I hope it will be two weeks" - that would mean: final. "I know what I can do and I still have the things that made me win Grand Slams," said Kerber in London.
At the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, the left-handed player, currently number 19 in the world rankings, will start on Monday with Kristina Mladenovic, who is 99 places worse. The first hurdle is the same, the French had recently won her sixth Grand Slam title in doubles at the French Open. "She knows how to play on the big pitches," said Kerber. "
In 2021, the second round game against the Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo had become the key game: A “sensational match” and an “extraordinary battle” were fought, as the BBC was amazed. "The German found the form that could make her a threat in the second week." In the end, 3:18 hours were on the match clock and Kerber celebrated the 7: 5, 5: 7, 6: 4 as “one of the best matches of mine in the last few months. I have the feeling that I can still do it. " She later carried that feeling to the semi-finals, where she lost to eventual winner Ashleigh Barty.
The current tennis year is extremely unremarkable for Angelique Kerber, the greatest German player after the Steffi Graf era. Although she won the 14th tournament of her career in Strasbourg in May, she has won eleven matches and lost ten on the professional tour. "It's always up and down for me," she said in an interview with "Sports Illustrated" in May. At the Australian Open there was a clear first round defeat against the Estonian Kaia Kanepi, at the French Open it was over in round three. But now the German is back in the most important weeks of her tennis year. "I love sport and therefore always manage to motivate myself. I only do it all for myself now, out of passion for the sport." But the thing about saying goodbye, it just hovers over every match.
So finally Wimbledon again, maybe one last time. Kerber's annual plan for 2022 is also geared towards the highlight on their favorite surface. "The Wimbledon moment only comes when you arrive here, when you drive in here by car, enter the facility and know: It'll start in a few days," said Kerber when she arrived in London. "All the memories come up, you know where and how to warm up. The routine comes back, you arrive mentally and know that your head is completely in Wimbledon. It's a nice feeling."
It doesn't matter that only another semi-final can prevent Kerber from slipping out of the top 20 in the world rankings. The Wimbledon organizers stick to the ban on Russian professionals, for which they are punished by the professional organization WTA, which does not distribute world ranking points for the most important tournament of the tennis year. The former number one doesn't care: "For me, there was never any question of not playing Wimbledon - whether with or without points. I'm not the one who plays for the points or the rankings, but for the sport. Who that didn't understand what it was about, didn't fully understand the sport either."
Kerber plays for himself in Wimbledon and for the good feeling. If the former German Davis Cup captain Patrick Kühnen has his way, there is something for Kerber on her eternal farewell tour with an indefinite end in 2022 on the grass pitches on Church Road: "She has an interesting role: Even if she has won multiple Grand Slams -winner, she's not the focus of the favorites - maybe it's good for her that she can play freely," said the former world-class player.
