12 months ago, Angelique Kerber ended her season as the best player in the world rankings. Now she has been relegated to the WTA Elite Trophy and fighting to stay in the world’s top 20.
Hosted in China, the Elite trophy features the 11 highest ranked players (plus a wild card) that failed to make the cut for the prestigious WTA Finals. Kerber will be aiming to win her first title of 2017 during what has been a turbulent year. Currently with a season win-loss record of 29-22, the German has failed to progress beyond the four round at every grand slam tournament. Losing in the first round at Roland Garros and the US Open.
“I was on top, now I’m not playing so good but I’m thankful for what I can learn from this,” Kerber told AAP.
“I think a lot of people think it is (easy) but athletes know how tough it is.
“They see you on the court when you’re winning, but don’t know how much energy you put into training and what you do away from court.”
In the round-robin tournament, Kerber has been drawn in the same group as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ashleigh Barty. She has already lost twice to Pavlyuchenkova this year in Monterrey and Tokyo. Meanwhile, Barty is a rising star of the women’s game. The Australian is at a ranking high of 20th in the world and reached the final of the Wuhan Open last month.
“She played good tennis in Brisbane and I knew she’d have a good year,” Kerber said about Barty.
“She has a really different style but this is how she does it and why she’s had success, beating some good players.
“If she is working hard she’ll have some great years ahead.”
Mladenovic out to end lull
Top seed Kristina Mladenovic has been drawn in a group with two players she has a losing head-to-head record against. She will be aiming for revenge against Julia Goerges, who defeated her at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Mladenovic will also take on Wimbledon semifinalist Magdaléna Rybáriková for the first time since 2009.
Like Kerber, the French world No.10 is hoping to end her year of a positive note. Since Wimbledon she has only managed to win one match in ten tournaments played. A stark contrast to the first half of the season when Mladenovic reached four WTA finals, winning the St Petersburg Open.
“Definitely this is a chance to set the tone for 2018. The second half of this season was a real struggle for me but the positive note for me is that I now feel better physically and I managed to sort out the physical problem that I had. I feel kind of refreshed.” She said earlier this week.
“And I would like to compete better and play better and the results can also come in Zhuhai. Just to feel part of it is also a chance to relax in a way because it’s a great achievement and after a long year you can just give a little push and then afterwards you can absolutely relax, take time off, think with your team what was good and what was not good and start to build for the next season.”
The Elite trophy will see the winner of each of the four groups progress to the semifinals. US Open champion Sloane Stephens is also taking part in the tournament. Stephens hasn’t won a match on the tour since her triumph in New York.
List of groups
AZALEA GROUP
Kristina MLADENOVIC (1), France
Julia GOERGES, Germany
Magdalena RYBARIKOVA, Slovakia
BOUGAINVILLEA GROUP
CoCo VANDEWEGHE (2), United States
Elena VESNINA, Russia
PENG Shuai (WC), China
CAMELLIA GROUP
Sloane STEPHENS (3), United States
Anastasija SEVASTOVA, Latvia
Barbora STRYCOVA, Czech Republic
ROSE GROUP
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (4), Russia
Angelique KERBER, Germany
Ashleigh BARTY, Australia
