Rededicated Kerber Finds Success

Written by: Staff on 5th July 2012

Rededicated Kerber Finds Success |

The tennis world only really began to become familiar with German Angelique Kerber at the 2011 US Open, when she stunned an in-form Agnieszka Radwanska. Ten months later, the left hander has become a significant player, cracking the top eight and now reaching her second Grand Slam semifinal.

Last August, she had fallen out of the top 100 as she was admittedly out of shape and was without direction. But she decided to take some time off the tour to rededicate herself to the sport and it paid off.

Today she will face Radwanska again, this time in the Wimbledon semifinals. Her road has been long and arduous. but she is now reaping the benefits of her hard work.

“Last year I lost in first round [of Wimbledon],” the 24 year old said. “I lost 11 or 12 tournaments first round. After Wimbledon made a break and had three weeks practice before going to New York. That was the tournament that changed it all. I went there with nothing to lose. My goal was just winning one round there, and I won one round Then, I beat Radwanska and Pennetta, some really good players, and after that I really started to believe in myself. I also practiced more and more after that and made good preparation in the off-season to be even fitter for 2012.”

This year, Kerber has more match wins than anyone on the WTA at 45, and has won titles at the Paris Indoors and Copenhagen, as well as reaching semifinals at Indian Wells and Rome and reaching the final at Eastbourne, where she admittedly choked in dropping five match points to Tamira Paszek, But she after let go off match points against her countrywoman Sabine Lisicki in the second set of the Wimbledon quarterfinals, she was able to turn it around mentally in the third set

and pulled out the victory.

Kerber, who is coached by Torben Beltz, has also trained at the Schuettler/Waske Tennis Academy in Frankfurt, run by the former top 10 player Rainer Schuettler and former San Deify State standout Alex Waske. She has also worked with the notable San Diego coach Larry Willens.

She realizes now that she is more of a known quantity than she was last summer, but does not seem to mind being the new leader of an excellent German contingent that includes three other top 25 players in Lisicki, Andre Petkovic and Julia Goerges.

“It’s a little bit different like last year’s US Open or last year’s Wimbledon, because now everybody expect for me to be in the second week, win the matches against the girls they are behind me,” she said. “And I feel the pressure for sure. But I really just try to focus on me, make my thing. And I think that’s helps me to go out there and play really good tennis.”