Angelique Kerber is actually used to traveling to Australia. In one of her favorite countries, the new tennis season begins every year around New Year’s Eve. This time, however, everything is different.
Because when Kerber gets on the plane on Monday, ten-month-old Liana will of course also be there. With her little daughter and the challenge of combining family and professional sport, the three-time Grand Slam tournament winner is returning to the tennis tour after around a year and a half of maternity leave.
The “biggest challenge” of your career
“Of course I’m really happy,” the 35-year-old told the German Press Agency. “But of course I’m also a little excited because I can’t estimate where I’m at, what it’s all going to be like,” admitted Kerber about the “biggest challenge” of her career. “With Liana it will definitely be a bit more strenuous, especially when it comes to the long-haul flight and the time change, but I’m trying to take it easy.”
She started packing for herself and her little one days before departure. After all, with all the luggage for a trip like this, you now have to add a suitcase. This was the “first challenge on the way to Australia,” she said with a laugh.
A tennis highlight for Tennis Germany
To kick off her completely new career, the former world number one chose the United Cup, a team competition for men and women. There she will compete for Germany together with, among others, Alexander Zverev, with whom mixed doubles is also possible. In Sydney, the German selection in Group D will face Italy on December 30th and France on New Year’s Day and will fight for a place in the quarter-finals.
“The whole of tennis Germany can look forward to a tennis highlight,” said German women’s boss Barbara Rittner about the exceptional player’s comeback, but also warned: “However it goes, you shouldn’t set your expectations too high.”
Kerber has confirmed his participation at the WTA tournament in Adelaide at the beginning of January. The first sporting highlight is the Australian Open, which begins on January 14th in Melbourne. The four Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic Games in summer 2024 are her big goals. “We have a rough plan, but we’ll look from trip to trip. I tend to want to play a little less rather than more,” she said.
New flexibility with old friends in the team
The 2016 Australian Open winner explained that everyday tour life with the little one will be exciting: “It will only work with flexibility. Especially in the first few days of the tournament, until the discovery phase is completed and all of us in the team understand how it fits best.” A new spontaneity was necessary in the preparation. Instead of always sticking to a punctual start of training at 9 a.m., for example, it started an hour later at short notice because little Liana still needed her mother.
For her comeback, Kerber has brought her long-time companion Torben Beltz back into the team as the new old coach. However, she admitted that she also asks herself how fit she is after the long preparation at her academy in Puszczykowo, Poland.
The question marks behind their form
“I am prepared and fit enough to give myself the best chance of getting back to the level at which I left off,” said the former world number one, who last played in her third round exit at Wimbledon in the summer of 2022 played an official match. “But I also have to give myself time. I haven’t played a match in a year and a half and I’ve never had such a long break in my career. So I can’t expect to play my best tennis straight away in Australia.”
On the tour she will meet former Japanese world number one Naomi Osaka, who also wants to return as a mother. And Jelina Switolina from the Ukraine and the Danish Caroline Wozniacki, both of whom are mothers. “I’m good friends with Caro Wozniacki. Now the new topic during training during the breaks will be where our children are playing or what they’re doing,” predicted Kerber and laughed.
On tournament trips around the world, she relies on the support of the family traveling with her as a “more relaxed solution”. She decided against a nanny. “The family knows the little one and has experienced the rhythm and processes,” said Kerber. “Then I know when I go onto the pitch that everything is under control and Liana is in good hands. That’s the most important thing for me.”
