INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – In her first outing as Australian Open champion, Angelique Kerber was brought back to earth with a bump, slumping to a shock defeat at the hands of Zheng Saisai at the Qatar Total Open.

By her own admission, Kerber struggled to deal with the occasion, her metronomic groundstrokes breaking down under the strain. “That was a new situation – it was the first match after my biggest title and I think I had so many things in my mind,” Kerber said during her All Access Hour at the BNP Paribas Open.

It was an experience the German, now enjoying the status as the world’s second best player, is keen to accentuate the positives from. After a brief break, she was back on the practice court, gearing up for one of the biggest events on the tennis calendar.

“After Doha I took maybe five or six days off. I really tried to get relaxed and enjoy this feeling of being No.2 in the world and getting used to it for the next tournaments that are coming up,” she added.

“I had a nice start to practicing hard again at home with my team around me.”

Few players have a bad word to say about Indian Wells and Kerber is no different. Down the years the tournament has provided memories both good – back-to-back semifinals in 2012 and 2013 – and bad – first round exits on her past two visits – and after that Doha blip she is hungry to add to the former list.

“I think now I got used to it [the No.2 ranking] and I’m looking forward to playing my next match here and I think I’m ready to go out there and play great tennis again.”

Kerber finds herself in a relatively open section of the draw; potential engagements with Johanna Konta and Ana Ivanovic await should she survive a far-from-straightforward opener against Denisa Allertova.

“I’m looking forward to being here, to play my matches and I have a lot of confidence from the last few weeks. I’m feeling good, I’m healthy, I was practicing very well here in the last few days so I think I’m ready for the tournament to start!”