Angelique Kerber: ‘Enjoying time with family and friends’

The 2024 Olympic Games were the last tennis tournament Angelique Kerber ever played in her successful career. The 36-year-old made a last big impression in the French capital, beating Naomi Osaka, Janin Cristian and Leylah Fernandez to reach the quarter-finals, where she was narrowly defeated 7-6, 4-6, 6-7 by the eventual gold medallist Qinwen Zheng.

Kerber's career showed that red clay was not exactly her favourite surface. She won her three Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open in 2016, the US Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2018 either on hard court or grass. She never made it past the quarter-finals in Paris at the French Open. And yet she showed her class one last time on clay at the Olympic Games.

Angelique Kerber: ‘I don't have much time to think about whether I miss tennis’

Her last match was on 31 July. The Bremen-born tennis player then said goodbye to the tennis tour with a big celebration in the Olympic Village. But how has Kerber been doing since her retirement? Does she already miss the tennis tour after just under two months of abstinence?

In an interview with Tennis Channel DE, she reveals: ‘I haven't had much time to think about whether I miss tennis. I continue to do my sport, but I don't have much free time.’ Instead, she is now devoting herself to the things that professional tennis players often don't have enough of: family and friends.

Kerber gave birth to her daughter Liana in February 2023. She returned to the tennis stage at the end of December 2023 to win the United Cup team competition together with Alexander Zverev, Laura Siegemund, Tatjana Maria and the rest of the German team.

Two months after her retirement, she appeared as a special guest at the Laver Cup 2024 in Berlin.

‘This time I'm not here as a player, but as a spectator. It's different, but special.’

With three Grand Slam titles and 29 weeks at number one in the world rankings, Kerber is still considered the most successful German tennis player since Steffi Graf. ‘I always said that I would stay true to tennis,’ she emphasized.

‘I'm happy to be in Berlin for the Laver Cup and to see some familiar faces again,’ said Kerber. What she was particularly pleased about was being able to watch tennis as an outsider: ’This time I'm not here as a player, but as a spectator. It's different, but special. I think I'll be able to enjoy it a little more now.’

Together with her long-standing friend Ana Ivanovic and her husband Bastian Schweinsteiger, Kerber watched the matches of Zverev, Alcaraz & Co. from the front row. She even did the coin toss before the Laver Cup match between Grigor Dimitrov and Alejandro Tabilo.

‘It's a very special event with all the top stars,’ she said of the Laver Cup. ’Unfortunately, we don't have an event like that for the ladies yet. But who knows what the future will bring.’

But for now, Angelique Kerber's focus is on her personal life. ‘I'm trying to enjoy time with my family and friends right now. Then we'll see what happens.’ But one thing is certain: her appearance at the Laver Cup was not her last on the big tennis stage: ‘I have one or two projects in the works, and I'm just happy to have a different time than I did just six or seven weeks ago.’