The first round of Australian Open 2016 didn’t look to be going Angelique Kerber’s way when she dropped the first set to Misaki Doi. The second set went to a tiebreaker where it wasn’t long before the Japanese player earned a match point.
Kerber, the seventh seed, would deny her the point, then went on to win the set, and eventually the match.
This moment would change everything for Kerber.
On this week’s episode of The Sit-Down podcast, the former world No.1 reminisced on the two weeks in Melbourne that propelled her career to new heights.
“That was something I look back on and I will never forget this special moment,” she shared.
“In two weeks, everything has to come together. There’s no chance you’re playing your best tennis for two weeks, so you have to deal with so many things and if you feel bad one day, you have to go there and win a match. Doesn’t matter how.”
After her tense opening round, the German comfortably advanced to the quarterfinals, where she faced Victoria Azarenka. The two-time Australian Open champion had beaten Kerber at Brisbane only two weeks earlier, extending her winning record against the German to 6-0.
LISTEN: Agelique Kerber on The Sit-Down podcast
“I never beat her. I knew that I had to play my best tennis. I was down and I had nothing to lose. I was so happy being in the quarters already because in the first round I already had one leg on the plane back to Germany. I was just trying to enjoy my tennis and to win the match,” Kerber revealed.
“I won the match and I remember it was just amazing because the fans supported me so much. There was a lot of energy out there”.
After defeating the unseeded Johanna Konta in the semifinals, Kerber booked a spot in her first Grand Slam final. Across the net she faced an opponent who was no stranger to starring at this stage of the event in Serena Williams, who was looking to lift her seventh AO trophy.
“I just knew that I had to play my best tennis because that was my first Grand Slam final and you never know if you would reach another one, especially at my age. I was 28, so I was not the youngest player in this moment,” Kerber recounted.
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“Serena was the favourite, and I knew that I didn’t want to just play a good match, I wanted to win and beat her if I could. I had a lot of confidence with the matches before beating Azarenka and other good players as well. I just enjoyed it from the beginning, from the first point.
“I won the first set and then lost the second one, so the third set was a little bit up and down. I was up for one and then she came back, then she served and I broke her. There were a lot of things going on during the match.
“When I made the last point, it was just crazy.”
This triumph was catalyst for Kerber’s career-changing season.
She would go on to reach the final at Wimbledon and collect a silver medal at 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics before, winning her second major title at the US Open – a result propelling her to world No.1.
Two years later she won her third and final major title at Wimbledon in 2018, again defeating Williams in the final.
“I think when I won the Australian Open and I realised I can win the big tournaments, I knew that I had to work even harder,” she said.
“I knew that everyone else wanted to beat me, but I was trying to just improve myself and taking this confidence from the Australian Open to the next tournaments.
“That was for sure my best year.”
Listen to the full episode of The Sit-Down, a weekly podcast released each Monday featuring an in-depth interview with a notable tennis identity. Subscribe in your favourite podcast player so you never miss an episode.