Angelique Kerber says she would have thought twice about travelling to the Australian Open if she knew the ‘real situation’ after crashing out of the tournament on Monday.
The former world No.1 and 23rd seed slumped to a 6-3, 6-4, defeat to America’s Bernarda Pera in what is her earliest loss at Melbourne Park since 2015. Kerber struggled with her form throughout the 70-minute encounter as she almost hit four times as many errors than winners (7-25). The German also produced seven double faults and could only win 25% of her second serve.
In the aftermath of her shock loss, Kerber hinted that she believed quarantine she had to go through had a negative impact on her. She was one of 72 players who had to be placed in a stricter form of quarantine after being declared a contact case of somebody who tested positive for the virus on her flight to the country. Kerber was unable to leave her room for 14 days but did play three professional matches in one of the lead-up tournaments last week.
“I was really trying to stay positive and making the best out of the two-week situation. But, of course, you feel it, especially if you play a real match where it counts and you play the first matches in a Grand Slam, also against an opponent who doesn’t stay in the hard lockdown,” she said during her press conference.
“I was feeling this at the beginning (of the match), that of course my balls are always a little bit out and I was not feeling the rhythm that I was before the two weeks, to be honest.”
One of the biggest problems for the 33-year-old at Melbourne Park was undoubtedly her serve. She was broken five consecutive times before registering a game on the scoreboard midway through the second set. Despite being a three-time Grand Slam winner, it is also the 18th time in Kerber’s career she had lost in the first round of a major.
Whilst praising officials in Australia over their handling of the pandemic, Kerber admits that she would have thought twice about travelling to the country if she knew about the situation she would be in.
“If I knew that before to stay really two weeks in the hard quarantine without hitting a ball, maybe I would think twice about that,” she admitted.
“I was trying to take the motivation also for this tournament because it’s one of my favourite tournaments. I knew that we play with a little bit of fans, which is always such a difference than playing with no fans. It makes tennis playing much more fun to play out there. So that was my motivation.’
“But if I knew the real situation before my trip, I would think maybe twice to come here.”
Kerber won the Australian Open back in 2016.
