BY JAMES BECK
—
Veteran tennis fans must have loved this year’s women’s final of the Australian Open.
Chris Evert practically returned to her tennis heyday in the person of Angelique Kerber.
Chrissie was everyone’s sweetheart in the 1970s and 80s.
She didn’t crush opponents or blow them off the court with power. Chrissie wore them out with her
consistency in delivering well hit, but not powerful ground strokes to all parts of the court, particularly
cross court.
They were like body punches in boxing. An opponent could take only so many of them before wilting in
the summer heat of such places as New York City, Paris, London and Melbourne, Australia.
A LEFT-HANDER NAMED ANGELIQUE
Meet Angelique Kerber, Grand Slam class of 2016.
Only, Kerber is a left-hander, which makes her ground strokes just a tad more difficult to handle than
Evert’s.
The almost slight 5-8 German also seems to put just a bit more firepower on her shots and serves than
Evert did. Perhaps, it’s the new racket technology.
Kerber ran the court, dragging Serena Williams with her. Kerber turned Serena’s bombs into well-
guided, net-hugging cross-court deliveries that got the better of perhaps the greatest women’s tennis
player ever.
KERBER’S ‘SOFT GAME’ KEPT SERENA OFF BALANCE
Nevertheless, it was nice to see a player of Kerber’s size, grit, court coverage and consistent ground
strokes win a Grand Slam against a superwoman type of player such as Serena Williams.
Even Chris Evert kept reminding ESPN viewers that: “This is where” Kerber has to hit a big first serve.
Of course, Kerber did just fine with her moderate firepower on serves. Her serves might not have broke
as much as Martina Navratilova’s in typical left-handed style, but they also worked often enough to keep
Serena guessing and off balance.
Does anyone remember Evert ever hitting a big and powerful serve? Yet, she just won 18 Grand Slam
singles titles.
THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TO SERENA
Kerber was relentless. Perspiration flowed from Serena’s forehead. Her will never left her, but her
energy did as Kerber ran down almost everything Serena hit. A fatigued Serena netted Kerber’s ground
strokes far too often, or over-hit them badly.
Serena never seemed to find the secret to Kerber’s left-handed strokes.
The 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory by Kerber wasn’t supposed to happen as Serena zeroed in on Steffi Graf’s total
of 22 Grand Slam titles, which is two shy of Margaret Court Smith’s all-time record of 24. Serena likely
will get the title she needs to tie Graf’s mark and maybe even catch Court Smith. That is, unless Kerber
gets in Serena’s way too often.
KERBER WILL HAVE EVEN GREATER CONFIDENCE
Looking ahead as the No. 2 player in the world, Kerber probably will become an even better player,
realizing that she indeed is good enough to defeat Serena Williams and win more Grand Slam titles.
Kerber just turned 26 years old.
Because of her tenacity and determination, she should now become one of the top drawing cards in the
women’s game. Places such as Charleston, S.C., where Kerber won last year’s Family Circle Cup will be
eager to welcome Kerber back to town. This time, it will be for the Volvo Cars Open in early April.
James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He
can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com
—
http://www.postandcourier.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=search&text=james+beck&facet.filter
=&facet.filter=&sortbydate=1
