Before 2016, her four years as a fixture at the top of her game had brought her to three significant finals, just beneath the slams, and she had lost each one.
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Though Pliskova prefers blistering ground strokes to the serve-and-volley game that defined past Czech champions such as Martina Navratilova and Helena Sukova, her serve remains her biggest weapon.
“With Angie, you can not wait for mistakes”, Pliskova said. “I think this is really important for your confidence and you can go for it”.
Pliskova, 24, went into the final with a WTA Tour-leading 447 aces this year.
Karolina Pliskova felt her inexperience cost her in the US Open final after she suffered a three-set loss to Angelique Kerber. Two errors gave a break back to Kerber in the sixth game.
“You can not compare those two (Serena Williams and Kerber)”, explained Pliskova. “But I think that’s also her strength”.
Angelique Kerber says she is ready to step up her game and shoulder the pressure of being the top-ranked tennis player in the world.
“She has more experience to play those finals than me so that probably decided this match”, Pliskova said.
Kerber had won the opening set 6-3.
Pliskova, who arrived at Flushing Meadows with a reputation of grand slam under-achiever having never before been beyond the third round of the major, shed that label by making it all the way to the final and taking on back-to-back world number ones.
But she fought back in the third set and wore down the towering Czech, who started to wilt in the punishing conditions, hunching over her racket at the end of nearly every point.
The new number one’s readiness was further apparent when she burst into the opening half hour of the final, breaking Pliskova’s serve in the first game and piecing together nearly the flawless set of tennis. So, I mean, what she did for the sport, it’s just incredible.
She turned professional and another dozen years passed before her first grand slam title at this year’s Australian Open.
Karolina Pliskova (CZE) at the trophy presentation with Angelique Kerber (GER) on day thirteen of the 2016 US Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
After 4-4 in the final set, Kerber’s rock solid performance helped her the match.
Faced with the challenge, Kerber admitted she was “a little negative” in the second set.
Pliskova got in just 53 percent of her first serves, and Kerber was all over her second serves, winning 71 percent of those points. Adding the championship at Flushing Meadows was further proof that all of the changes Kerber has made are paying off. “It’s the best year of my career”. Not even during the match.
“It all started for me here in NY five years ago when I reached the semi-finals and now I am here with the trophy”, she added. But a defeat in the final hampered her chances and extended the American’s stay at the top.
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Since pulling off the ultimate achievement in tennis, outlasting Serena Williams in the third set of a nerve-strewn final at the Australian Open in Melbourne, she had proved her credentials to back up her first major title more than anyone could have imagined.
