Can Angelique Kerber recapture her Wimbledon-winning form?

In this second week of the ever-so-short grass-court season, dozens of players are looking to fine-tune their game in time for Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the season.

Among them is the defending women’s champion, Angelique Kerber, who is looking to establish some consistency in what has been an up-and-down campaign so far. Will the world No. 6 be able to get back on track for a successful run over the course of the fortnight or is she in for a quick exit?

This week, Kerber is the top seed in Mallorca, Spain, where she opened up play with a tougher-than-expected first-round match against Ysaline Bonaventure, a 24-year-old from Belgium. Bonaventure was ranked more than 100 places behind the former world No. 1, but still managed to hang tight with her in the first before taking the second. At the end, though, Kerber was able to clinch a fairly routine decider, winning it 6-2.

For Kerber, despite being on court longer than predicted, the win is surely welcome after a difficult clay-court season. Despite her counterpunching style of play, the surface has never been her best, and health woes—first a virus, then an ankle injury—had an impact on her preparation for the French Open and overall results. Making it to Paris, with minimal play beforehand, the German fell in the first round to Anastasia Potapova in straight sets in her most recent tournament before Mallorca.

Before the clay, though, Kerber went without a title in the first half of the year. Kicking off her season officially in Sydney as the defending champion, she lost in the quarterfinals to Petra Kvitova, then was famously upset by American Danielle Collins in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Over her next two events, in Dubai and Doha, Kerber went 3-2, but caught fire in Indian Wells, Calif., where she reached the final—her first on American soil since her US Open title-winning run in 2016. In the desert, though, she was upset by young Canadian Bianca Andreescu, who also beat her in Miami their next time out.

Kerber’s record on the year now stands at 19-9 with the Indian Wells final her best result so far. With the rise of Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty, some of the attention and expectations are off her right now—with recent results lending weight to the fact that might be best for her.

After a dream season in 2016, in which she made the final of three majors—winning two of them—and reaching the top spot in the rankings, she came down to earth a year later, falling out of the top 20. Out of the spotlight in 2018, with few points to defend, she came back with a vengeance, capturing that Sydney title to start the year, then defeating Serena Williams in the final of Wimbledon, gaining a measure of revenge for their 2016 championship bout there. She also took a 2-1 lead in their head-to-head record in finals at that level.

As she gets ready to go for another Wimbledon title, Kerber has a tough draw in Mallorca. Next up, she faces five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova in the second round. The two have split their eight previous matches, and this tiebreaker comes at an important juncture for both players as Sharapova is playing her first event in months due to shoulder issues.

Still, should she advance, Kerber will surely take satisfaction in defeating a future Hall of Famer, and perhaps that could spur her on to further success on the grass in a few weeks time.