Angelique Kerber: Angelique Kerber had a summer to remember, starting at the height of the Emirates Airline US Open Series.
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“So I think I wasn’t at 100 percent, but I also think she played well”.
Serena Williams faces a challenging new landscape in her continued pursuit of Grand Slam history thanks to the rise of a clutch fearless rivals led by new World No. 1 Angelique Kerber.
Pliskova, who survived a match point en route to a fourth-round victory over Venus Williams, was almost betrayed by her nerves as up 3-0 in the tiebreaker she produced three errors, including a double fault. She skipped the US Open because she is pregnant. “She deserved to win today”. In her defeat against Pliskova however, the energy spent by the American in the match against the Romanian went on to be one of the decisive factors in her defeat, along with injury!
Williams was ousted in the first round of the Olympics in a shock early round exit, but the crafty, hard-hitting German made it all the way to the finals against the unlikely Monica Puig from Puerto Rico.
The 28-year-old had previously been tagged as somewhat of an underachiever, with her best performances at a slam prior to this year coming in semi-final runs to the 2011 US Open and the following year’s Wimbledon, and she did not make the second weekend of any major in 2015.
“I felt this was one of the biggest things, when you know you can run forever on court and you’re not anxious that you can play three sets”.
The Australian Open win over Serena Williams was starting to look like a one-time deal.
“I was really trying to improve a lot of things”, she explained following her 6-3 4-6 6-4 triumph after falling a break down in the third set.
There are many more important things than tennis matches, Wawrinka said as he accepted the trophy.
Kerber broke through for her maiden major success at Melbourne Park, beating Williams in the final. The US Open victor is the first German woman to top the list since Steffi Graf’s last reign ended in 1997. “I think I will show a few videos to my children in a few years”.
Both Kerber and Williams list Graf as their tennis idol. “But it’s all gone well”, Kerber said.
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“I’m leaning towards some kind of jewelry”, she said. And like a fine wine, she has only gotten better with age.
