BAD HOMBURG (GERMANY), 23 Nov. (dpa/EP) –
The German tennis player Angelique Kerber is going to return to competition after a year and a half of maternity leave, a return that she faces as “the biggest challenge” of her career and where she will need “patience”, something that is not her “strong” point. .
“It is probably the biggest challenge of my career, it is a long road and I need patience, which is not necessarily one of my strong points, but the love of tennis is something that has always motivated me,” Kerber declared in an interview on the web. of the Bad Homburg tournament.
The former world number one, who has conquered three ‘Grand Slam’ tournaments (Australian Open and the US Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2018), took a break from the summer of 2022, as she became a mother for the first time. last February.
The 35-year-old player is clear that “nothing has changed” and she is “motivated” for her return in 2024, making it clear that she wants to “have that feeling on the court again” and recover “all the emotions” of it with ” the fans in the stadium.
The German has scheduled her reappearance in a tournament for early January at the United Cup, a mixed team tournament to be held in Australia, as a prelude to the first highlight of the year, the Australian Open.
In this sense, his expectations about returning are “realistic” since he wants to give himself “time” to recover from the “long break without games.” “Many things will be different when I come back, especially because of my role as a mother. But I want to try everything and accept the challenge,” she concluded.