Angelique Kerber says the boldest decision she ever made came when she was 17 and decided to play tennis professionally.

Her comments reflect the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day: ‘Be Bold For Change’.

“The toughest decision I made was when I was 17, and I decided to start to play tennis [professionally],” she reveals in an exclusive WTA interview. “I was not able to get through to the university and of course when you are 17 years old that’s always a tough decision, because you don’t know how far you can get and what’s happening the next year.”

It was very much a decision that paid off for the 29-year-old, who enjoyed the best year of her career in 2016. In addition to finishing the year at No.1 in the WTA rankings (making it five years in a row in the Top 10), there was double Grand Slam success at the Australian Open and US Open, plus a WTA win in Stuttgart.

On top of that, there were finals at Brisbane, Wimbledon, Cincinnati and the year-end BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and a silver medal at the Olympics in Rio.

International Women’s Day falls on March 8 every year, and celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.