Indian Wells (AP) – In sport, Angelique Kerber knows what to expect after her first win this tennis year – emotionally, on the other hand, she cannot properly assess it before the duel with Russian Daria Kasatkina.
“I’m trying to turn it off on the pitch, which isn’t that easy. My grandparents are from Poland, I live in Poland too, it’s all very close,” said the 34-year-old of the German Press Agency after her hard work Success against the Chinese Qinwen Zheng.
The war instigated by Russia in Poland’s neighboring country Ukraine is keeping Kerber busy. “It’s all really incredibly crazy what’s going on in the world right now. I really hope that we’ll just get peace. After Corona, this crazy thing is happening there – madness,” she said. “Of course everyone talks about it and you check the news every hour what’s going on – well me especially because we’re close and it’s not such a nice feeling.”
Kerber knows Kasatkina as an opponent from last fall, when she also won three sets against her in Indian Wells. “It’s always very tricky to play against her. She plays very variably. I have to keep at it and dictate myself. I know what’s coming,” said Kiel.
The former number one in the world rankings, on the other hand, was not even aware that she had clinched her first victory of the year under floodlights in the Californian desert. The win against Kasatkina in October was followed by another in the round of 16 – since then there has been no success. In December, Kerber became infected with Corona, and in Australia and Doha she flew out of the tournament after the first match.
At Indian Wells, she had a first-round bye as the No. 15 seed. “I feel good, but of course I needed the weeks and days to get fit again,” reported Kerber. “Everything that you actually do in the offseason, I’ve now tried to catch up in Australia and in the time. It will take time.” That’s why you can’t expect yourself to play your best tennis right away.
That could be seen in the duel with Zheng – Kerber lost the second set against the 19-year-old, and in the third set she was two breaks behind. “In the end I was just trying to come back,” she said. “Now I have a match here and I always enjoy playing my way into the tournament, so I hope the next one will be a bit better from my side.”
The Masters in the Californian desert is one of the most important tournaments on the WTA tour. The hard court event is worth $8,584,055. Kerber was in the final in 2019 and lost in the quarterfinals last year to the later winner Paula Badosa from Spain in the edition that was postponed to autumn due to Corona.