A completely new phase in Angelique Kerber’s career begins. In future, she will be traveling from tennis tournament to tennis tournament with her daughter. She is “a bit excited”, she admits
Angelique Kerber is actually used to traveling to Australia. Year after year, the new tennis season begins around New Year’s Eve in one of her favorite countries. This time, however, everything is different.
Because when Kerber gets on the plane on Monday, ten-month-old Liana will of course be there too. With her little daughter and the challenge of balancing family and professional sport, the three-time Grand Slam tournament winner is returning to the tennis tour after around one and a half years away from her baby
The “biggest challenge” of her career
“Of course I’m delighted,” the 35-year-old told the German Press Agency. “But of course I’m also a bit excited because I can’t estimate where I stand, what it will all be like,” Kerber admitted about the “biggest challenge” of her career. “It will certainly be a bit more stressful with Liana, also in terms of the long-distance flight and the time change, but I’m trying to take it easy.”
She started packing for herself and the little one days before departure. After all, with all the luggage for a trip like this, there is now another suitcase. That was the “first challenge on the way to Australia”, she said with a laugh.
A tennis highlight for Tennis-Germany
The former world number one has chosen the United Cup, a team competition for men and women, to kick off a completely new phase in her career. There she will compete for Germany together with Alexander Zverev, among others, with whom mixed doubles is also possible. In Sydney, the German team will face Italy in Group D on December 30 and France on New Year’s Day to fight for a place in the quarter-finals.
“The whole of tennis Germany can look forward to a tennis highlight,” said German women’s head coach Barbara Rittner on the exceptional player’s comeback, but also warned: “However it goes, you shouldn’t set your expectations too high.”
Kerber has confirmed her participation in the WTA tournament in Adelaide at the beginning of January. The first sporting highlight will then be the Australian Open, which begins on January 14 in Melbourne. The four Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic Games in summer 2024 are her major goals. “We have a rough plan, but we’ll look from trip to trip. I tend to want to play a little less rather than more,” she said.
New flexibility with old acquaintances in the team
The 2016 Australian Open winner explained that everyday life on tour with the little one will be exciting: “It will only work with flexibility. Especially in the first few days of the tournament, until the discovery phase is complete and we all understand in the team how it fits best.” A new spontaneity was already necessary during the preparation phase. Instead of sticking to a punctual training start at 9 a.m., for example, she sometimes started an hour later at short notice because little Liana still needed her mother.
For her comeback, Kerber has brought her long-time companion Torben Beltz back into the team as her new old coach. However, she admitted that she was also asking herself how fit she was after the long preparation at her academy in Puszczykowo, Poland.
The question marks behind her form
“I’m prepared and fit enough to give myself the best chance of getting back to the level I left off at,” said the former world number one, who last played an official match in the summer of 2022 when she exited Wimbledon in the third round. “But I also have to give myself time. I haven’t played a match for a year and a half now and I’ve never had such a long break in my career. So I can’t wait to play my best tennis straight away in Australia.”
On the tour, she will meet former Japanese world number one Naomi Osaka, who also wants to return as a mother. And Yelina Svitolina from Ukraine and Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, both of whom are on the road as mothers. “I’m good friends with Caro Wozniacki. Now the new topic during training breaks will be where our children are playing or what they are up to again,” Kerber predicted and laughed.
On her tournament trips around the world, she relies on the support of her accompanying family as a “more relaxed solution”. She has decided against a nanny. “The family knows the little one, has experienced the rhythm and the routines,” said Kerber. “Then I know that when I go out on court, everything is under control and Liana is in good hands. That’s the most important thing for me. “
