Kerber enjoying the moment after Australian Open win

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  • Surprise champion: Angelique Kerber.

    Angelique Kerber does not know what awaits her as she faces the world now as a grand slam champion, but she’s excited to find out.

    The 28-year-old stunned Serena Williams in the Australian Open final to become the first German to win a major this century and vault up the rankings to No. 2 in the world.

    Kerber didn’t sleep a wink the Saturday night after the final as she celebrated with her team before jumping into Melbourne’s Yarra River early in the morning, fulfilling a bet that she would take the plunge should she win the title.

    She then went back to her hotel for hair and makeup before heading to the Government House for her official trophy photo-shoot. Her life will not slow down for a while. Asked if she had any clue on what kind of expectations people will now have of her, Kerber said: “I have no idea. I don’t know also what will come in Germany.

    “I know I got so many messages. I know that I will make a lot of media and press when I go back but I think I deserve it. I’m looking forward to it. I will take every experience with me for the next challenges I will face in the tournaments. But right now I’ll just focus on the moment, enjoying everything and then let’s see what happens because I have no idea, I was never in this situation.”

    Kerber’s journey has been about perseverance, as she constantly searched for the self-belief she knew she lacked.

    “I’m not the easiest person sometimes. I had also a few downs where I was not believing in myself,” she admits. Now that she has conquered her demons and taken out two tournament favourites in Victoria Azarenka and Williams en route to the title, what message does she think her triumph can convey to the world?

    “I think the message from me is that you can work very hard and some day the work will pay off,” said Kerber. “Just follow your dreams and be patient. You will always have up and downs in your life, in your career and just stay positive and just go for it.

    “Just do what you love, and that’s what I’m doing. Now my dream has come true so that’s the message I can give out to everybody.”

    Williams joked she had better watch her back now that Kerber was at No. 2 and could be gunning for top spot. But while world No1 is a dream for the champion, she isn’t obsessing over it.

    “My dream was always to win the grand slam and my second dream was to be No. 1. So I think the first dream, I’m done already and the next one will be No. 1. But it’s still so far and Serena is still the best player in the world, she wins every tournament she plays. That’s actually so far for me,” said Kerber. “If the day comes and I will be No. 1 that’s great, but for me the biggest dream was to win a grand slam and I did it.”

    Kerber explained how she played mind games with herself in order to treat the Australian Open like any other competition in order to try and perform as well here as she has done in smaller tournaments. At the slams, she would usually change her routine, avoid staying at the official hotel, not eat at the players’ restaurant… but in the past two weeks in Melbourne, she decided she wasn’t going to complicate things anymore.

    “At the slams, I’m not the same player, that’s true,” Kerber confessed. “That changed after the first round (where she saved a match point against Misaki Doi). I didn’t have the pressure anymore. “I remembered in 2015 I lost in the first round. After this year’s first round I was telling myself not to think it’s a grand slam, think that it’s Brisbane, and that helped me.

    “I was trying to stay relaxed, stay like I am, not thinking too much to make things complicated. I was staying in the official hotel, and going to the players’ restaurant like in the smaller tournaments.”

    The trick worked and she’s now champion. Would Kerber want to face Williams in a slam final again?

    “Of course. She’s challenging you to play the best and this is what you as an athlete would like to show people,” she said. “To play Serena is always a challenge so I’d like to do it again.”

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