Angelique Kerber: test of patience on the way to Tokyo
Forced break, but no doubt: Angelique Kerber is still struggling and still sets ambitious goals. The Tokyo Olympics and the dream of a "great honor" stand above everything.
by SID
last edit: Feb 13, 2020, 04:20 pm
The forced break is annoying, Angelique Kerber makes no secret of it. "I am not the most patient person, I have never been," she told the SZ . And yet Kerber has to face the challenge. Her battered thigh still doesn't allow training. She "needs a little more time" to fully cure the injury, she says. Time that she would rather spend with her new coach Dieter Kindlmann on the tennis court before the upcoming tasks.
After all, there is a lot to do; the three-time Grand Slam winner is not satisfied with a fourth round like at the Australian Open . Even if the result was "okay" for her given the back problems at the beginning of the year and the thigh injury in Melbourne. Your goals, Kerber leaves no doubt, are those of a champion. "I want to focus on the big tournaments. I want to play and win well," she says confidently.
Kerber and Zverev in Olympic mixed?
Kerber has often emphasized the outstanding status that the Olympic Games have for them this season. After silver in Rio, Tokyo can "go one step further", she says at Sky Sport News HD. So gold - pretty much no matter in which discipline. A start in mixed alongside Alexander Zverev has been in the room for some time. "Let yourself be surprised," is Kerber's standard answer to the question of a joint appearance by the two best German tennis players.
It becomes more specific on another Olympic theme. She would "very much like" to carry the German flag at the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. "That would be a great honor," says Kerber of the SZ. Only four women have received this award at summer games: water jumper Ingrid Engel-Krämer (1964 / GDR / all-German team), athlete Karin Balzer (1968 / GDR), handball player Kristina Richter (1980 / GDR), canoeist Birgit Fischer (2000) and Hockey player Natascha Keller (2012).
But even without a flag in hand - the carrier is chosen by the public and the athletes - Kerber would not miss the ceremony when she took part in the third Olympics. She had already run into the stadium in the middle of the German team in London and Rio. "And I will do it again this year. Even if I play the next day. This feeling of running out for Germany is unique," she says.
Fed Cup title missing
She will get a foretaste of this during her Fed Cup comeback in April (14th to 19th) in Budapest. After two years of abstinence, Kerber has to slip back into the national jersey at the premiere of the final tournament to be safe in Tokyo. That is what the rules of the World Tennis Association say. Kerber sees the tournament with the preliminary round duels against the Czech Republic and Switzerland as an opportunity to pick up momentum after her forced break, and a big title will be awarded that she has not yet won.
"Who knows, maybe it's the year of the Fed Cup," says Kerber. But first she has to master her patience before she can go to work.