A lot has changed for Angelique Kerber since she won the US Open in 2016. The southpaw won her second Major in her career before ascending as the world No 1 for the first time in her career. A year on, Kerber returns to Flushing Meadows as the defending champion. But, she has also dropped out of the top-five of the ranking, ceding her top-spot to Karolina Pliskova.
Potentially, defending the title would help Kerber address her lopsided year significantly. However, while the 29-year-old acknowledged the tournament has a “special place”, she was also careful to specify about her evolution as a player in the last one year.
“I’m not feeling the pressure anymore,” said Kerber in her pre-event press address.
“I think now I know what to expect, and I’m here to focusing now not on rankings, not on points or defending or whatever. I’m here to play match-by-match and trying to playing good tennis again. [I am] not looking back what’s happened the last few months or weeks,” she added.
She also made a mention about the varied permutations in the ranking that are awaited in the course of the next two weeks.
As it stands, eight players stand to claim the world No 1 ranking at the end of the US Open on September 10. Kerber, however, is out of the reckoning since by possibly defending the title she wouldn’t be adding any further ranking points to her existing tally. Suffice to say, then, Kerber is the one player who has nothing to lose in the season’s final Major.
But, for each of the eight players – and most specifically for Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep – there’s a lot riding on getting a good result in New York city. Having been through a similar ride, not so long ago, Kerber drew a parallel with her experience.
“It’s for sure a very great feeling to be No. 1, because this is what you were always dreaming for and you are working a lot to get the spot one day, and to winning big tournaments,” she stated.
“But, of course it’s not so easy. I mean, if you are there [as the world No 1] or you are close there, you feel the pressure. You feel the pressure from yourself, as well, because you know you are just really close to [being] there,” she said.