Tennis News

Angelique Kerber kicked off her 2016 season by picking up some silver hardware in Melbourne, winning her first major title at the Australian Open. Last month at Wimbledon she proved to everyone, including herself, that her Melbourne run was no fluke, making the final of yet another major tournament.

So can the German back it all up with some Olympic hardware? Absolutely.

Playing under the German flag has never been a problem for the World No.2. In her first Olympics in 2012 she was a win away from the medal round in London, losing in a tight two sets to top seed Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals. Since 2012, Kerber is 10-4 in Fed Cup, leading the Germans to the final in 2014, and has been Germany’s standard-bearer since her breakout season in 2012.

In Rio, she is aiming to become the first German to win a medal in tennis since Tommy Haas won silver in 2000, and the first German woman to win a tennis medal since Steffi Graf in 1992.

Kerber heads to Rio after a scratchy week at the Rogers Cup in Montréal. It speaks well to her quality and confidence that she was able to make the semifinals without playing anything near her best tennis. But she looked rusty and out of rhythm in Canada.

With the summer schedule accelerated due to the Olympics, Kerber did not get much rest after Wimbledon. She was back on court at the Ericsson Open in Bastad, where she eventually withdrew due to an elbow injury. The injury did not seem to bother her in Montréal, but the rust from being unable to train as hard as she might have liked for the hardcourt summer showed.

“I think the tournament was good for me because I have a lot of tough and close matches during this week,” Kerber said after losing in three sets to eventual champion Simona Halep in Montréal. “It was the first tournament on hardcourt again, so it’s good to have a lot of matches before going to Rio now, having a few matches under my belt.

“I’m actually feeling good. I take the positive things for the next week and looking forward to play the Olympics.”

Kerber was part of a small group of players who had to endure a series of delays and rerouted flights to get down to Rio earlier this week, finally landing on Wednesday. She’ll need to shake off the fatigue quickly and get back to work to improve her form over what we saw in Montréal. That may prove difficult given how hard it has been for players to get extended blocks of practice time on the courts in Rio.

Finally arrived in Rio !!! ? #longtrip #RoadToRio ?? pic.twitter.com/20jvaBAN5t

— Angelique Kerber (@AngeliqueKerber) August 3, 2016

Also looming after the Olympics are the Western & Southern Open and the US Open, both of which offer Kerber an opportunity to overtake Serena Williams for the No.1 ranking. It’s a milestone that is within her reach before Flushing, but for now the focus is on getting a medal for Germany.

“I think for the tennis player, the Grand Slams are, I think, the most important things,” Kerber said in Montréal, when asked how the Olympics stack up to the tour’s biggest tournaments. “Of course you are looking forward, like me, to playing the Olympics because it’s only [every] four years. It’s an honor to play for Germany. Of course, I will give everything to win the medal, doesn’t matter which one.

“It’s tough to compare because it’s a little bit different, but I’m happy that I already have a Slam,” she said with a big smile.

After six months of defying expectations, Kerber has rightfully earned the label of a medal favorite.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

The penultimate stop-off on wtatennis.com’s trip down Olympics memory lane is the 2008 Games in Beijing, which saw a clean sweep of the medals from tennis’ new world order…

Beijing, China, 2008
Olympic Green Tennis Center
Hardcourt

For a Russian athlete there is no greater prize in sport than an Olympic gold medal. It is fitting therefore that for Elena Dementieva, so often the bridesmaid at tennis’ biggest events, the site of her greatest triumph was the Beijing Games.

Eight years after announcing herself to the tennis world with an unexpected silver medal in Sydney, Dementieva went one better in Beijing – a surprise winner in a tournament full of surprises.

A regular figure at the business end of majors, Dementieva enjoyed a smooth passage through the opening rounds and into a quarterfinal with Serena Williams.

Five previous encounters with Williams had brought just one win, but in Beijing Dementieva was a woman on a mission, producing a stirring comeback to triumph in three.

Meeting her in the semifinals was compatriot Vera Zvonareva, who had taken advantage of No.1 seed Ana Ivanovic’s 11th hour withdrawal to advance from the top section.

She was no match for an inspired Dementieva however, who, with the draw now shorn of many of her tormentors in chief, was not about to take her eye off the ball.

And so to the final where another Russian, Dinara Safina, was lying in wait.

Coming into the Games, Safina was in the form of her life and looking to add a golden finish to a summer that had already seen her pick up silverware in Berlin, Los Angeles and Montréal.

A round earlier Safina had dashed China’s dreams of a home gold medalist by knocking out Li Na and when she took the opening set in the final it looked like she would be putting paid to her teammate’s too.

Then midway through the second set, Safina began to lose her way. Whether it was magnitude of the situation playing on the mind or just an arduous summer schedule finally catching up with her is uncertain. What was certain is that it left the door ajar for a Dementieva comeback.

From then on, it was less about forehands and backhands and all about who wanted it more. There was only ever going to be one winner.

After nicking an error-strewn second set, the momentum was now with Dementieva and she was not about to hand it back. As the match edged towards the two and a half hour mark, Dementieva arrived at match point.

One crisp forehand down-the-line winner later and she sunk to her knees an Olympic champion.

“It’s a huge moment for Russia,” Dementieva said. “I know we were expecting and planning some medals from our team. But I don’t think anyone could expect three medals.”

“This is a dream for every athlete, just to be here. But to be an Olympic champion, this is the top of the career.”

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Olympic Memories: Athens
Olympic Memories: Sydney
Olympic Memories: Atlanta
Olympic Memories: Barcelona
Olympic Memories: Seoul