Wimbledon 2017: Angelique Kerber living a nightmare as she tries to regain SW19 glory
MUCH of 2017 has been like a bad dream for Angelique Kerber, perhaps even a waking nightmare for the German world No1.
Last year she won the Australian Open, the US Open, and was a finalist at Wimbledon. She may have lost to Serena Williams there, but her consistency saw her elbow the absent one aside as the best player on the women’s Tour.
It also made her £15million and threw a new star into the galaxy of the game. At 27, she had learned how to win at the highest level.
But this year her game has gone into reverse, and yesterday had her hands full in despatching Irina Falconi of the USA, a girl 246 places beneath her in the rankings list.
Kerber came through 6-4, 6-4 but looked distinctly ordinary, moved around by the little American who teased and tormented her with delicious drop shots.
It took Kerber some time to adjust and get her leftie serve working efficiently, and although she did eventually find a kind of groove, she was clearly relieved to go through.
Tennis babe Katie Boulter trains ahead of Wimbledon
And there was still that sad, haunted look about her, as if she was trying to remember the supreme player of last year.
“I think I am on my way,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure. “I think the last few months I have had a lot of ups and downs. Now I am finding my rhythm. I enjoy playing on grass, it’s what I love most.”
With Williams on maternity leave and unable to defend her title, it was left for Kerber to open Centre Court proceedings. Experiencing that walk from the locker room into the sunshine of the court, to be enveloped in the admiration of the crowd, certainy made her feel better about herself.
“It was good to be back on that amazing court. A lot of memories came back with me,” she said. “But with them has come more expectations, even more pressure on me. As a champion you have many more things to do.
“Being No1 was always a dream for me, and it will be with me for at least five more years, so whenever I look back it is there still in my head.”
Kerber broke Falconi early on to lead 3-0, closed the set and then broke again for 5-4, and held for victory, her dangerous serve a big stick that caused most of the damage.
But she admitted: “It is going to be harder to stay No1 than get there. You have to learn a lot of things, new experiences, so I have being going through all this these last few months, just trying to adjust to what is expected of me as a champion.”
Among the chorus line of pretenders to the throne is Karolina Pliskova, who lost the US Open final to Kerber last year and is the third seed for the title here. If she goes on to win Wimbledon the 6ft Czech would take over at the top from Kerber.
She took just one minute over an hour to dispatch Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 6-4 but said: “I cannot even allow myself to think about things like that. I’ll stay in the zone, play well and focus.”
Caroline Wozniacki is not finding things so simple. Once the world No1, she had to regather herself after losing the second set to beat Timea Babos of Hungary 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Wozniacki was a junior champion here 11 years ago, and said: “I just love the place, the grass and the whole atmosphere – that inspires me.:
Garbine Muguruza of Spain, a finalist here two years ago, get her campaign underway with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.