“That gives me also a lot of confidence with the situation, how I dealt with it against Caroline”.
Advertisement
Newly minted world number one tennis star Angelique Kerber has miles to go before she consolidates her position.
History repeated itself for Serena Williams, and not in a good way.
Angelique Kerber spoke late Thursday night as if she already had accomplished her goal at the U.S. Open. Last year, it was by Roberta Vinci, a 300-to-1 longshot.
For Wozniacki, this was a disappointing end to a superb fortnight, in which the world number 74 showed glimpses of the form that once saw her placed at the top of the rankings in 2010 and 2011.
Kerber said she will learn the lessons from her loss to the Czech, who has won 11 matches in a row and had never been beyond the third round of a major before arriving in NY.
“It was everything I think because of all the pressure in the last few months”, Kerber said of that moment.
“I don’t believe it”.
“To be number one and win Grand Slam titles was always my dream ever since I was a little girl”, Kerber said. “I’m a professional player, I’ve been playing for over 20 years”.
“But this is something unbelievable”.
Williams, who practices every day, and noted that she had no problem with daily tournament play, adamently stated that the two matches within two days had nothing to do with her loss. The veteran star will likely lose her No. 1 ranking after this latest loss, but even after the misstep, Williams is only willing to focus on the positives. “It wasn’t a five-hour match”.
After the match, she revealed she had been nursing a problem with her left knee in NY since round two. I hope I didn’t stop yet, that there is still one more step to go.
“Obviously, she’s had a great year”, the Dane said. “She’s playing really well”. If I was exhausted, I need to find a new career.
Williams added: “I wasn’t able to move the way I wanted to move”.
Defending Serve was very crucial while both are power hitters. She hit 31 unforced errors in the match, broken three times and double faulting six, including on match point down.
Pliskova, who has led the WTA Tour in aces the last two seasons, kept the 34-year-old American under pressure nearly from the start and had break chances on all but one of Williams’ service games in the first set and converting twice.
She is halted there for now, tied with Steffi Graf for the record of Open era Slams at 22.
Advertisement
Still, Pliskova surely had a lot to do with Williams’ woes.
