Angelique Kerber: If The Day Comes When I Reach No. 1, That Will Be Amazing

by Tom Gainey | August 27th, 2016, 11:45 am
  • 2 Comments

After a missed opportunity last week in Cincinnati where she was two sets from the No. 1 ranking, Angelique Kerber remains hopeful of grabbing the top spot either at the US Open or down the road. But she continues to deemphasize the chase.

“I will not put too much pressuring on this,” Kerber said during the US Open media day. “If the day will come I will reach No. 1, would be amazing. I learned a lot of things the last year, especially with the Singapore thing, with my match there. I had to win one set and I was completely too much pressure on myself.

“I learned from this and learned from a lot of losses, a lot of wins what I win and up and downs. That’s why I will not thinking too much. I am here playing tennis, this. Is what I love to do. And, yeah, like I said, when the day will come, it’s great, but I will try to enjoy every moment right now because it’s one of the best season of my career so far.”


A former US Open semifinalist, Kerber will open play Monday against Polona Hercog.

Serena Williams has to make the semifinals to hold any hope of retaining No. 1.


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2 Comments for Angelique Kerber: If The Day Comes When I Reach No. 1, That Will Be Amazing

jalep Says:

The Rio loss to Monica Puig was tough. Angie had been playing great in Rio, but in the match vs Monica she tightened up — the same thing happened in Cincinnati vs Karolina Pliskova.

It’s tempting to pick her to the final with her draw but perhaps a quarterfinal run from her at this US Open is more realistic?

Here’s the WTA bracket game link — plenty of time left to make picks:
http://www.tourneytopia.com/RacquetBracketUsOpenWTA/jalep2/default.aspx

As far as #1, she can make it someday, I think. Serena? I’m feeling like it will be another surprise winner and not Kerber or Serena.

August 27th, 2016 at 1:22 pm


chrisford1 Says:

Be nice to see Kerber get a bit of time as #1. She is someone that will appreciate and enjoy it. And Andy Murray, as a great player just simply merits a time as #1.
A thing with the #1 rankings is that opportunity beckons when the field weakens in competitive level as transitions happen when “legends” retire or spend years only doing tennis part time (Serena). Otherwise #1 is locked up in both the WTA and ATP for long periods of time as great rivals dominate.

Evert-Navratilova dominated 1975-1987 with only Goolagong slipping in for 2 weeks and Austin having a hot run on hard courts in 1980 that gave her a cumulative 20 weeks. No other good player could get in . But in the 2000s, it seemed there was a new #1 every 3 months or so.
We are in the time of the Big 4, with 3 of them locking up the #1 spot for 12 years as well. No one has managed to break through yet, not even Andy. That makes the USO and Barclays huge for both Andy and Djokovic, who loves being #1.

One thing that startled me was Venus Williams only managed 11 weeks as #1 in her career. Her Wimbledon wins mask the fact that she was not a consistently good player, and not an all surface player.

August 27th, 2016 at 4:13 pm

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