Kerber Dethrones Serena

German rides a successful 2016 to overtake WTA’s top spot

November 11, 2016 | By Brian Coleman
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Until Sept. 12, it had been more than three years since a woman other than Serena Williams held the distinction of world number one in the WTA Women’s Singles Rankings.

So when Serena lost to Karolina Pliskova in the semifinals of the 2016 U.S. Open, it snapped a streak of 186 consecutive weeks with the American atop the rest of the world, and 28-year-old German Angelique Kerber became just the 22nd woman to claim the number one ranking, and the oldest to make her debut at the top of the rankings. Kerber is also just the second German woman ever to claim the rankings’ top spot, joining Steffi Graf.

“When I was growing up, Steffi was my idol, and it’s also special that she is German,” said Kerber. “She did a lot for German tennis. And now, to be the next number one from Germany after her, and win Grand Slams, this is really important for me.”

The news got to Kerber at a bit of an awkward time, however, as she found out just moments before taking the court for her own U.S. Open semifinal match against former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

“It was not so easy to go on the court, because I knew that if Serena lost, of course, that I will be number one,” Kerber said afterwards. “It was not so easy mentally, but I was trying to not put too much pressure on myself.”

And with that even-keeled mentality, she walked onto center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium with one thing on her mind: Win the match in front of her.

“I’m just happy to be in the semis,” she told ESPN’s Pam Schriver just before walking out to the court. “And I’m looking forward to this match.”

Kerber would handle the Wozniacki challenge with ease, breezing to a 6-4, 6-3 victory in just 87 minutes to reach the first U.S. Open final of her career. Despite knowing that no matter the result of the match, she would still be the new number one, Kerber showed no signs of complacency.

Two days later, Kerber captured the U.S. Open title with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Pliskova, overcoming a late flurry from Pliskova to calmly win the second major title of her late-blossoming career.

“It was everything, I think, because of all the pressure of the last few months,” Kerber said of her emotions after defeating Pliskova. “To win here at Flushing Meadows is very special for me. Everything started for me here in 2011. This Grand Slam is really, really special to me.”

In those two matches of the final Grand Slam of 2016, with the pressure on and the lights shining the brightest, Kerber delivered on the biggest stage.

Kerber may feel a greater sense of comfort on the Flushing Meadows courts. It was five years ago at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center where Kerber made a name for herself. She entered the 2011 U.S. Open as the 92nd-ranked player in the world, but was the darling of the tournament in a strong run to the semifinals. Although it took a few more years for her to break through with a Grand Slam title, the success of her 2011 run at the U.S. Open was a pivotal point in her career.

“You saw it in the match,” Kerber’s coach, Torben Beltz, said of the biggest difference in her game. “If she’s a break down, she never gives up. I think she never gives up. She’s the fighter she was before, but right now, she believes more in herself. You really see that she doesn’t want to lose and wants to go for her shots. She has more self-confidence, and that’s very important for her.”

That has been the biggest change in Kerber’s game, and what, at this point, separates her from the rest of the field. If you look at her style of play, she doesn’t wow you with a big serve, deadly groundstrokes or even dominance at the net.

It is Kerber’s belief in all aspects of the game, and an unwavering and quiet confidence that makes her so tough to beat. She does not beat herself on the court, and her lefty forehand down the line may be one of the deadliest shots currently in the women’s game. Kerber has the skill, ability and conditioning to rally from the baseline with anyone, but also has creativity and a variety of shots which allow her to counter any opponent’s strategy.

She lost a tough third-round U.S. Open match to Victoria Azarenka in 2015, but it is what she took away from that match that still rings true and can be considered a major factor of her surge.

“It was not the feeling that I lost a match to Azarenka in 2015,” Kerber told The New Yorker. “It was more the feeling that I played good and she won it at the end, and this is what gives me a lot of confidence when I come to new tournaments.”

Kerber’s success in 2016 began early, advancing all the way to the finals in the tune-up to the Aussie Open, the Brisbane International, before falling once again to Azarenka to finish runner-up.

She moved on to Melbourne to win the 2016 Australian Open title as a relative unknown to the casual tennis fan, exacting revenge over Azarenka with a 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. She entered Melbourne as the only player in the top 10 (at the time) to have never reached a Grand Slam title. Kerber erased that as a talking point with her three-set triumph over Serena, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, giving us a sign of things to come.

“Kerber closed with her belief, it surprised me,” ESPN analyst Chris Evert told USA Today after the Aussie Open. “A lot of players tightened up last year against Serena. They let her off the hook. She played some of her best tennis, but I also think there were times when players just didn’t believe. This was a case where Angie just kept believing.”

In March, she faced a familiar foe once again in Azarenka in the finals of the Miami Open, falling once again to the Belarusian to finish runner-up.

In April, she captured her second title of the year at Stuttgart at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, defeating fellow German Laura Siegemund 6-4, 6-0 for the win.

In the second Grand Slam of 2016, Kerber was upset by the 58th-ranked Kiki Bertens of The Netherlands which fueled the German as she hit the halfway mark of 2016.

In June, Kerber took to the grass courts of the All-England Club where she advanced to the finals of Wimbledon. She downed the likes of fifth-ranked Simona Halep in the quarterfinals and eighth-ranked Venus Williams in the semifinals, where she met Serena once again in the finals. Serena grinded out a 7-5, 6-3 win over Kerber to capture the crown, but with each win, the German edged closer to top of the WTA Women’s Singles Rankings.

She had the opportunity to represent her nation for the second time (having played for her nation in 2012 in London) at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and did not disappoint, coming home with the Silver Medal, falling to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig in the Gold Medal match.

Another finals appearance in the tune-up to the U.S. Open, the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, saw Kerber fall to her eventual U.S. Open finals opponent Pliskova, but in mid-August, Kerber was firmly planted at number two in the world. Due to her success through the year, she was a true threat to Serena’s stronghold on the top spot entering the U.S. Open and the rest is history.

Throughout 2016, Kerber has made sure that all tennis fans and even sports fans in general, know who she is. With her quiet disposition and unflappable confidence, she has become the hunted, as opposed to the hunter, a position she enjoys being in.

The year 2016 saw Kerber win three WTA titles overall, giving her 10 WTA titles total to date. In terms of prize money, she raised her career total in winnings to $17,846,784, having amassed $8,661,615 of that total in 2016 alone.

Kerber’s consistency, tournament to tournament, match to match, and point to point, are the things that break her away from the rest of the field. Her physical tools wouldn’t turn many heads, but there are certain things you cannot teach or coach. That goes for all sports, and tennis is no different. Kerber possesses the desire and will, match in and match out, something that cannot be said for every single athlete out there, but is what has transformed her into the game’s top player.


Brian Coleman

 Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for New York Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com

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