It’s a skill that defines the best tennis professionals in the world. They perform at their best when it really counts. So it was on Thursday in the Wimbledon semifinals with Ashleigh Barty. The Australian world number one was not always able to convince in this tournament, but against Angelique Kerber she now showed her best game on the Center Court of the All England Club. The 25-year-old Barty saw it exactly like this after the 6: 3 and 7: 6 (7: 3): “It’s unbelievable – that was one of the best tennis matches I’ve ever played. Angie made sure that I showed my best, ”she gushed out.
Barty got off to a great start and was ahead with a break in the first set with an intermediate score of 3-0. She convinced with precise and, above all, long basic strokes. Again and again her forehand landed on or on the line, and the backhand slice often came so flat that her German opponent struggled to return the ball with pressure.
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Kerber had said before the match that she wanted to go through her game aggressively. But first, Barty dictated the pace and rallies. The Australian showed that in tennis it is not always just about hitting the ball as hard as possible, but that a certain finesse can also lead to success. Barty beat eight aces, a total of 38 direct points with only 16 errors.
And yet Angelique Kerber was not without a chance. “I lost, but I’m taking this trip with me. I’m incredibly proud and grateful, ”she said after the match. “In the end it was two or three points that turned the match around. At the beginning I made too many mistakes in the tie-break. “
In the final, Barty meets Karolina Pliskova
After falling behind quickly, the 33-year-old Wimbledon winner from 2018 recovered and was equal to Barty. As usual, she never lost a rally, ran after the supposedly unattainable blows of her opponent and fought as doggedly as it has become her trademark.
But she didn’t want to succeed in the re-break in the first set, but Kerber took the lead in the second round. She celebrated the points she won loudly and cheered herself on again and again. The fist was often seen at the beginning of sentence two. And for a long time everything pointed to the sentence equalization. When the score was 4: 2, Kerber was able to fend off two breakballs and increase them to 5: 2.
But for all her determination, her error rate has now increased again. And because Barty was able to improve again, after ten points in a row it was suddenly 5: 5 for the number one.
Kerber saves herself in the tiebreak, where she quickly fell behind after further slightly devious balls. Barty was now on top and led 6-0. She forgave three match balls, then she was allowed to cheer. “The opportunity to play at Wimbledon on the Saturday of the final is a huge experience for me,” she said beaming during the interview on the pitch. In the final she will face Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic, who won her semi-final against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 5: 7, 6: 4, 6: 4.
Barty is the first Australian in 41 years to make it to the women’s singles finals. In 1980 it was Evonne Goolagong Cawley who finally won the title and was always Barty’s great role model. Now she has the chance to add an even bigger success to her 2019 French Open win.
For Angelique Kerber, however, Wimbledon is over. The German left the Center Court with her head held high. She even smiled at the last few points. The pressure that has been with her for many months has obviously dropped from her. At least in Wimbledon, the three-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments is still competitive. Kerber can take that with him and gain new self-confidence from it. For a tennis player who has a lot going on in the head, these are not the worst prerequisites. Even if the lawn season is over now. (Tsp)
