After 20 years of memories, Angelique Kerber waves goodbye

She was just a point away from the Australian Open 2018 final – more on that later – and reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, before again beating Williams, this time in the Wimbledon final.

Apart from Venus Williams, Kerber is the only player to beat Serena in multiple major finals.

That triumph put her three-quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam, and she ended 2018 at world No.2 after posting almost 50 match wins.

The game

Kerber’s enduring talent was built on a number of pillars. She played left-handed and with an unorthodox style, making her game extremely hard to read. At her peak she was perhaps the best counter-puncher and defender in the game.

After bunting balls she could suddenly inject pace, completely catching opponents off guard. One of the fittest players in the world, her core and leg strength made her almost immovable from the baseline, and she was famous for crouching into a deep knee-bend to absorb powerful shots.

As Roger Federer discovered in an incredible 2019 Hopman Cup mixed doubles final between Switzerland and Germany, the harder he drove the ball at Kerber, the better she played.

Friend and compatriot Andrea Petkovic acknowledged that Kerber’s serve was not her strong point, but wrote in a Substack essay: “If tennis was played from the baseline only, Angie Kerber would have been the greatest female tennis player of all times.”

Kerber’s competitive fire was astounding, and that, plus her capacity to extend rallies, saw her feature in a number of classic matches – perhaps none more epic than her semifinal loss to Halep at AO 2018.

But she came out on top of several others. Her Charleston 2015 final against Madison Keys, that AO 2016 final against Serena, and later, an iconic battle in the second round of Wimbledon 2021 against Sara Sorribes Tormo, lasting three hours and 18 minutes.

Even her last tournament final, which she won in Strasbourg in 2022featured a 7-6(5) 6-7(0) 7-6(5) triumph over Kaja Juvan, in three hours and 16 minutes.

While Kerber never returned to the same heights after that 2018 season, her semifinal run at Wimbledon in 2021 came almost 10 years after her first. It bookended a magnificent decade at the Slams during which she reached at least the quarterfinal stage 11 times, including four finals.

The finish

She took a break from the sport after Wimbledon 2022, announced her pregnancy in August that year and became a mother to daughter Liana in February 2023.

A brief comeback followed in Australia in 2024, and in her seven months on tour she reached the fourth round at Indian Wells – where she scored a top-10 win over Jelena Ostapenko – and in Rome.

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She upset Naomi Osaka in the first round of the Olympic Tennis Event in Paris, then Leylah Fernandez in the last 16, and pushed Zheng to the limit before her inspiring run finally came to an end, 8-6 in a third-set tiebreak.

“Paris 2024 will mark the finish line of the most incredible journey I could have ever dreamed of growing up with a racket in my hand,” Kerber wrote.

“There are many more things I want to say and people to thank, which I will do once I completed my last match… but for now, I will take the time and soak up every second of this final episode on court.

“Thank you all for your support – it means the world to me.”