In Serena Williams’ own words, you can’t underestimate Angelique Kerber.
Williams is ranked No1 in the world and on Saturday, in Melbourne, will be chasing an Open Era record 22nd major trophy – tying with the legendary Steffi Graf. The American is also gunning for an Open Era record-extending seventh Australian Open title, in what is her 26th grand slam final appearance.
Kerber, the No7 seed, is making her grand slam final debut and is understandably considered the underdog. But the 28-year-old from Germany, who upset two-time champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, has spent years building towards this moment and says she is finally feeling and acting like a top player.
A perennial top-tenner over the past four seasons, and with two previous grand slam semi-final appearances prior to this fortnight (US Open 2011 and Wimbledon 2012), Kerber has pushed – and beaten – plenty of players at the higher echelons of the sport but has also experienced numerous lows that deprived her from taking that extra step forward.
Last season she tied Williams and Karolina Pliskova for most match wins of the year (53) and won four Premier titles. The year before, she had played four finals and lost all of them.
At the WTA Finals last October, she needed just one set against the already-eliminated Lucie Safarova to advance to the semi-finals, but she lost in straights and saw the opportunity slip away.
She credits her ability to learn from her mistakes for the progress she’s making right now as she reaches her second final this month, having placed runner-up in Brisbane to Azarenka.
“The match against Safarova (in Singapore). That was a really down moment for me,” said Kerber, who is trying to be the first German woman to win the Australian Open since Steffi Graf in 1994.
“I was telling myself after this that I will never let the pressure again win against me…
“I think I’m really a quick learner. When I make mistakes, I try to learn from my mistakes, make it just once and not twice. I’m trying to take the experience for the next challenges I get.”
Graf, the woman she is trying to emulate, spent some time with her last year in Las Vegas after Kerber had crashed out early in Indian Wells.
“She was just telling me that I’m on a good way and trying to, yeah, giving me positive comments that I should believe in myself and everything is good,” revealed Kerber.
Graf was the first to send Kerber a congratulatory text message when she booked her place in the final on Thursday.
Kerber’s run in Melbourne will see her rise to at least No4 in the world – No2 if she wins the title. The other day while walking by the Yarra River, she got recognised by several people who wished her luck for the final. A year ago, she had lost in the Australian Open first round and did not turn many heads walking around the city.
“Now it’s getting more and more,” Kerber says about getting noticed on the street.
“I feel it also inside. I think I’m ready for it, to be now in the top five. I think I showed everybody that I deserve it. That’s a good feeling.
“I think the final came at the right moment. I think I’m ready for it because I have a lot of experience on the last few years. I beat top players. I am a top player right now.”
Williams, who owns a 5-1 head-to-head record over Kerber, recalls her only loss to the German, in Cincinnati in 2012. The top seed says she’s been taking Kerber seriously ever since.
Serena Williams has not lost a set at the #AusOpen. She's only lost 26 games; her fewest when winning a major is 29 pic.twitter.com/Fs7R7Z3c9F
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 29, 2016Owning a perfect 6-0 record in Australian Open finals, Williams is on her most dominant run to the final in Melbourne to date, having dropped just 26 games this fortnight.
She thrashed world No4 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-4 in the semis leaving her opponent’s coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski dubbing Williams “unbeatable” in this kind of shape.
Williams claimed she was surprised to be in the final, but her coach Patrick Mouratoglou does not feel the same way.
“I’m not surprised. I would be surprised if she was not,” Mouratoglou told reporters on Thursday as quoted by the podcast No Challenges Remaining.
“If I speak about her level, I think she’s playing better tennis than last year. She won a lot last year but I think she was far from her best, and I think she’s closer this year, for the moment.
“What I want and what she wants is also that her tennis is the tennis of the future, that’s why we’re working on stuff to improve and to look like what tennis is going to be like in the next years.”
Williams believes she’s playing the best slam she’s played in a year and despite bidding for history today, she insists she has nothing to lose. The way she’s been playing, so freely, suggests she isn’t feeling the pressure that dampened her bid for the Grand Slam at the US Open last season.
On gunning for Graf’s Open Era record of 22 majors, Williams said: “I definitely block it out. I was one off last year, too. If I don’t win on Saturday, I’ll still be one off. It took me forever to get to 18. I was so stressed out. I don’t want to relive that at all.”
