Angelique Kerber loves that Wimbledon feeling. With a smile, the 2018 winner boarded the private plane to England, and when she entered the legendary facility on London’s Church Road, memories of the past were immediately back.
“It’s always nice, it feels like home here now,” enthused the 34-year-old before her first appearance at the All England Lawn Tennis Club on Monday. “I’m happy that things are starting relatively quickly.”
After the quarter-finals at their home tournament in Bad Homburg, Kerber traveled to London with a lot of uncertainties. Are only three matches on grass enough to prepare for the classic? After a year of more downs than ups, how is your form? Will it even be her last Wimbledon?
Opening match against Kristina Mladenovic
Before the first round game against Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, the three-time Grand Slam tournament winner presented herself confidently, despite the public question marks, and referred in particular to her mental strength. “I know what I can do and I still have the things that made me win Grand Slams,” emphasized the Kiel native.
Without the injured Alexander Zverev, German hopes rest primarily on Kerber. For men, Oscar Otte wants to continue his rapid rise from qualifier to player seeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time within a year. “It didn’t go too fast for me,” says the 28-year-old from Cologne before his German duel with Peter Gojowczyk on Monday, in which a total of nine German professionals are playing. “I’ve waited years to be in this situation, so it suits me.”