The tennis season started in Australia with a fireworks display of yellow balls. And with New Year’s wishes that were at least partially fulfilled before the first day of 2024 was over. Angelique Kerber played four matches in Sydney around the turn of the year: won one, lost three. Even if her result at the United Cup doesn’t entirely satisfy her, she has shown that she is still capable of putting the best in the world under pressure with force and precision, even if it’s her first time with her ten-month-old daughter travels the globe.
It wasn’t quite enough on New Year’s Day to keep the French team in check in the national competition. Kerber, 35, narrowly lost in the mixed doubles with partner Alexander Zverev against the duo Caroline Garcia/Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 6:7 (4), 6:2 and 10:12. After the individual it was 1:1. Whether the German tennis team will still reach the quarter-finals will not be known until Thursday. But there can no longer be any doubt that Kerber mastered the cold start in part two of her career.
That was by no means certain. It had been a year and a half since her last tournament when she stepped onto the court on Saturday. Her return to working life after pregnancy was accompanied by the question of whether four months of training was enough preparation for such an exposed position.
In a solo tournament, Angelique Kerber might have hoped for an easy draw. But in the United Cup, her first challenger was Jasmine Paolini, 27, Italy’s best and number 30 in the world. She chose a surprise tactic against Kerber and surprised her by trying to aim for a direct point win from every position. Kerber, who is more of a defensive specialist by nature, lost 4:6, 5:7. Despite a set point in the second round – and although Paolini suffered a leg cramp and voluntarily gave up two points in order to be treated immediately. The 2018 Wimbledon champion was obviously still very busy with her own repertoire. “I’m still missing a few details,” Kerber said afterwards: “But I’m here to play more matches.”
“It was a special day for me,” she explains after the first win
The opportunity arose on Saturday just three hours later: Torben Beltz, captain of the German team at the United Cup and also Kerber’s coach, nominated the returnee alongside Alexander Zverev for the mixed game – instead of the experienced doubles specialist Laura Siegemund. And what had previously gone wrong solo now worked perfectly in the duet against Italy. Kerber pulled his forehand down the line and scored points at the net with volleys and stop balls. When the safe 6:3, 6:0 win against Lorenzo Sonego and Angelica Moratelli was secured, she stood on the pitch in front of the camera with relief: “It was a special day for me,” she said and added: “After that Comeback to win a first match feels great.”
Zverev, who was in great shape over the weekend and won his two singles against the Italian Sonego and the French Adrian Mannarino in three sets, was impressed by Kerber’s early form: “That she was out for a year and a half, came back and such a high Playing at a high level shows what a special player she is.” Especially since Kerber/Zverev, like chamber musicians, found the rhythm without rehearsal. In previous years they had already harmonized on the pitch at the Hopman Cup, the forerunner of the United Cup. “Tennis is a sport of intuition,” said Zverev by way of explanation. And in doubles it became clear that Kerber’s reflexes work.
She took the momentum with her into the game against France on New Year’s Day, in her singles match against Caroline Garcia, number 20 in the world, a player Kerber knows from numerous duels. She wrested the first set from her in no time – before the Frenchwoman came to her senses, corrected her position on the return, chased the balls more aggressively and finally won confidently: 1:6, 6:2, 6:2.
It is this confidence in the ability to turn around a game that has almost been lost that sets Garcia apart and that Kerber still lacks, which doesn’t seem surprising when you read the statistics. In 2023, Caroline Garcia played 67 singles – Kerber played zero. But in the new season there are already two. There are just under two weeks left until the start of the Australian Open. The performances in Sydney show that it would be unwise for the competition to underestimate Angelique Kerber, a working mother, on the tour.
2024-01-01 15:35:39
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