Tennis player Angelique Kerber: New strength in Indian Wells – sport

It is, it cannot be emphasized enough, incredibly hot in the Californian desert, and that means at the tennis tournament in Indian Wells: People put damp, chilled towels under their buttocks because the dark green seats are so hot – they prefer wet pants than a burned buttock. During the almost two hours that Angelique Kerber plowed on the field on Monday, coach Torben Beltz chose different tactics: hat, wet towel around his neck, every now and then he sat down on light and therefore not that hot steps; in the end he was sweating almost as much as Kerber.

“Tennis Paradise” is what they call the facility here, and that’s true, but given the heat, one could also assume that hell or purgatory might not be far away. That fits with Kerber, who also moves again and again between heaven and hell, such as in this third-round game against Daria Kasatkina from Russia: heavenly first set (6: 2), crash into hell (1: 6), it followed Purgatory, which Kerber won 6: 4 because in the end she was able to torture herself a little more than her opponent.

This is really not a criticism of Kasatkina, but rather a testimony to the great strength of Kerber, which is not her serve (on the contrary) or backhand stop, but the ability to win games like this. She is still one of the fittest players, she can also score mentally. Example: While switching sides at 4: 3 in the decisive sentence, she looked at Beltz, Kerber indicated something; but it wasn’t about tactical aspects, but about the fact that up there in the stadium someone was dancing with a panda mask on his head. Much more calm is not possible, a few points later the game was over. Kerber will now face Ajla Tomljanovic (Australia) in the round of 16.

Kerber, 33, has won more of these three-set battles again this summer: in Bad Homburg against Petra Kvitova and Amanda Ainismova, in Wimbledon against Sara Sorribes Tormo and Aliaksandra Sasnowitsch, in Cincinnati against Elina Switolina and Jelena Ostapenko as well as the US Open against Dajana Jastremska and 2017 winner Sloane Stephens. She could therefore be listed as one of the top ten players in the world rankings again after the tournament in Indian Wells.

She has these roles, which grow into dramas, in common with the British Andy Murray, who defeated the highly talented Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells before the duel with Alexander Zverev. What still unites the two, and that is noticeable when you not only pay attention to the result, highlights and the dramatic moments, but also look at the games in their entirety: Many of the battles only come about because Kerber and Murray allow that; because they allow themselves breaks, lose their rhythm and let the opponents get in. In other words: You can only free yourself in Houdini fashion because you had tied yourself up beforehand.

At the US Open, Kerber recently had a set and break lead against future finalist Leylah Fernandez, she could have won the game in two rounds. However, she made a few slight mistakes, quarreled briefly with herself, and the then only 18-year-old opponent forgot in a combination of euphoria and youthful madness that Kerber usually wins such games. The German knows that, the opponents know it too; she herself says: “The respect is back.”

This is the common thread that runs through her professional career, which has now lasted 16 years: If she doubts herself, she loses more of these battles. After the dramatic third-round defeat at the US Open 2015 against Viktoria Asarenka, she wrote the now legendary SMS to national coach Barbara Rittner: “That shouldn’t work with me, right?” Immediately afterwards: narrow defeats in Tokyo, Wuhan and Hong Kong. A year later she came to New York with the broadest shoulders in women’s tennis history (literally because of the training, but also literally because of the good performance before it) – and won. She had made herself as big as this tournament.

Anyone who thinks that Kerber should be self-confident because of three Grand Slam victories has no understanding of the debate about the mental health of athletes. Every sport is decided to a not inconsiderable percentage in the head, and at Kerber you can see from the small details how she is doing, how big she sees herself.

Her body language in difficult moments, around the end of the second sentence against Kasatkina, was more like “Okay, next point” than “Heaven again”. Or the jokes with trainer Beltz when changing sides instead of tense concentration. Or, yes, really: an ace to win the game in the third set instead of a pushed lollipop serve. Or that she literally celebrates the conditions in Indian Wells.

In the heat of hell, she feels very close to heaven, and that was also shown by coach Beltz: After the game, he walked from Stadium 2 back to the players’ garden, a wet towel around his neck, and he looked like someone who would definitely like it. to stay in the desert for a few more days.

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