Tennis professional Angelique Kerber’s comeback plans after the baby break are becoming more concrete. The 35-year-old has registered for the United Cup in the run-up to the Australian Open, the organizers announced late on Thursday evening. Alexander Zverev, Tatjana Maria and Laura Siegemund, among others, are also planning to take part in the tournament, which is played in a team format. Kerber’s break began in the summer of 2022, and she became a mother for the first time at the end of February.
The former Wimbledon winner Kerber has been working with her former coach Torben Beltz again for some time and wants to return to the tennis tour with him after her baby break. The young mother has been training with the 46-year-old in Puszczykowo, Poland, for several weeks. With Beltz, Kerber won the Australian Open and the US Open in 2016 and reached number one in the world rankings. The North German has coached the left-hander from Kiel on several occasions since 2004. The most recent engagement ended at the end of 2021.
“I believe that anything is possible”
Her goals are “definitely the titles and definitely the big tournaments,” said Kerber in an interview with the German Press Agency this summer about her ambitions. She believes that you can also celebrate Grand Slam titles as a mother. “But I also know that it is an even longer and even harder road than before,” she said: “But I do believe that anything is possible. You just have to have the courage to try it.”
Laura Siegemund is now in the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Nanchang, China. The 35-year-old from Metzingen won clearly on Friday against Norwegian Ulrikke Eikeri 6:1, 6:3 and will now face Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic at the hard court event. Against number 654 in the world rankings, Siegemund converted her fifth match point after 1:25 hours.
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The first set only lasted 30 minutes. Siegemund quickly led 4-0 and left the opponent hardly any opportunities after that. In the second round, Eikeri took a serve game from the German and led 2-1. But Siegemund countered immediately and then got the decisive break with a score of 4:2. Eikeri fended off several match points and even had the chance for another break, but Siegemund kept his nerve.
