German World No. 2 Angelique Kerber
German World No. 2 Angelique Kerber, the number one seed at this week's Qatar Total Open, is eager to claw her way back to the top of the WTA rankings summit.
Getting her ‘confidence back’ and winning more matches consistently are also two of the goals in the new season, the former Australian Open winner said yesterday.
“It's really important to play good tennis, to try to improve my game. This is actually my goal,” Kerber, 29, said yesterday.
Kerber said winning more matches and playing bold tennis remained a top priority as she aims to regain the fantastic form of 2016 which saw her win the Australian and US Open titles besides a silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games.
“I will do my best in the next few weeks, few months. If you play good tennis, then you have (positive) results. This is actually for me the most important thing, to win matches again, getting the confidence back. The we will see what's happen in the next few months,” Kerber said.
The German dethroned the seemingly invincible Serena Williams on September 12 last year to become the oldest woman and the first German since Steffi Graf to take the number one spot.
But her loss in Round 4 at the Australian Open and Serena’s victory Down Under saw her surrender the ranking after 20 weeks at the top.
Kerber had a somewhat lacklustre start to the season, losing in the quarter-finals in Brisbane, and the first round in Sydney before falling to CoCo Vandeweghe of US at the Australian Open
“You know, I had like few weeks off where I played matches,” said the left hander who has 10 singles titles against her name.
“After Australia I went back and I spent few days at home, doing nothing actually, just being at home. It was very cold. But then I started practicing again," she said.
Kerber said she feels battle ready for the Qatar Open challenge after the rest at home.
“I think it was not bad to get a bigger rest, to get ready for these two (Qatar and Dubai) tournaments. I'm feeling good. The first rounds are always a little bit tougher because you have to get used to the tournament feeling again, to the match things. But, yeah, I think that I'm ready," she said.
Kerber was one of the few seeded players who checked into Doha very early to get accustomed to the conditions in Qatar
The former World No.1 has been handed a bye in the first round, along with three other seeded players, and will face the winner of the tie between Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and Dania Kasatkina of Russia.
Kerber played Kasatkina this year and lost to her in Sydney and is ready to set even the record if the Russian wins against her first round opponent and meets her in the second round.
“She's a tough opponent. You know, it's always tough to play against the young girls that are coming right now," Kerber said.
"I'm looking forward to the game. If I have the chance to play against her (Kasatkina) in my first round, it would have been a good match. Yeah, I am ready to play. It will be a tough match. I played against her in Sydney. She played a good match. I was not playing my best at that time.”
The German said Kasatkina has made rapid progress since last year.
“She's a young player. She improved a lot from the last year,” Kerber said in response to another question.
Last year Kerber lost in the second round in Doha in straight sets to China's Zheng Saisai, -- after receiving a bye in the first.
If Kerber wins this week in Doha and next week in Dubai, she will regain the coveted number one spot from Williams.
Besides Kerber, the other seeded players who are taking part in the February 13 to 18 tournament include Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic, Elena Vesnina of Russia, Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland and Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
