US Open: Kerber keen to keep Graf’s grand slam record intact

Angelique Kerber wants to maintain her friend Steffi Graf’s position as the most successful player in the Open era.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber has extra motivation at the US Open where she hopes to prevent Serena Williams from taking Steffi Graf’s record.

After Steffi Graf last year presented Angelique Kerber with an open invitation to make the most of her expertise and advice any time it was required, Kerber felt an overwhelming obligation to repay her heroine.

Although Graf keeps her distance from grand slam tournaments these days, preferring instead to stay at home in Las Vegas with husband Andre Agassi and their two children, she follows Kerber’s fortunes closely.

The Australian Open champion has struck up a friendship with the woman who inspired her to play tennis and wants to maintain Graf’s position as the most successful women’s player in the Open era by warding off the threat of Serena Williams.

If Williams wins a third US Open in the next fortnight it will take her grand slam singles titles collection to 23, one clear of Graf’s haul. And should that victory be achieved she will also usurp the German’s Open era record of 186 successive weeks in the WTA world No 1 spot.

Had Kerber won last week’s Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, instead of succumbing to fatigue and losing in the final to Karolina Pliskova, she would have overtaken Williams at the top of the rankings and one threat to Graf would have been averted.

“Steffi Graf has always meant so much to me and in the past couple of years has also been so helpful. It would be wrong of me not to do my best for her and try to protect a couple of her achievements,” said second seed Kerber, who is within range of claiming top spot is she wins in New York.

With her victory in Melbourne, she showed the ability to get the better of Williams on a fast hard court, the surface on which the American learnt to play. Many would point to Williams’ unexpected early Olympic defeat by Elina Svitolina on a similar playing surface in Rio and maintain she is more than susceptible to another defeat long before the final.

Ever since Kerber wrote to Graf and asked to visit her in Las Vegas, there has been a pact between the two Germans. “Steffi got rid of my doubts,” Kerber said. “I learnt a lot on the trip, but that is obvious because it is very special when somebody as great as her is standing next to you on a court and telling you things.”

They worked together for three days in the spring of 2015 and although Graf is now 47, Kerber says she still exudes class on a tennis court. “Steffi is still incredibly good, simply superhuman,” she claimed. “With the backhand slice, nothing has changed. Plus her footwork is still just awesome.

“Without those experiences of just being beside her on the court and hearing the advice she was giving me, I would not be finding myself in the position I’m in now.”

Kerber started the year ranked world No 10 but her consistency has outshone all her rivals and after 61 matches this year, she finds herself with a 190-point deficit behind Williams, who will want to atone for last year’s semi-final disappointment against Roberta Vinci.

Since losing the Wimbledon final to Williams in June, Kerber was forced to retire early on the Swedish clay of Bastad. But switching to the hard courts, she reached the semi-finals in Montreal, the Olympic final in Rio and then the final in Cincinnati.

There was a similar run of form after that Las Vegas liaison. Kerber had lost early in Miami and she used the spare time before heading to Charleston, where she won the title before following up with another in Stuttgart. So inspiration clearly comes with benefit.

Then, tiredness got the better of Kerber, just as it did a week ago, but as she says: “I’m not a machine ... but coming to a grand slam is a special experience. To win the major you have to play two weeks your best tennis and deal with a lot of things around, to put things together so to be really focused.

“And to be No 1, it’s not just two weeks. You have to play a whole year or a few months really well, to reach finals, reach semis, to win against the top players to have the chance.”

Kerber should have time to play herself into the tournament. She faces Slovenia’s 116th-ranked Polona Hercog in the first round, with the faltering Petra Kvitova and last year’s beaten finalist Vinci, whose 2016 form has been lamentable, her two biggest threats in her quarter of the draw.

“Hopefully Kerber is not burnt out, although she has every right to be after the year she’s had,” said former No 1 Chris Evert, who insists that Williams will be feeling almost as much pressure to succeed this time as she did a year ago when the calendar Grand Slam was on the line.

“I’m looking at Madison Keys to be a threat to her, I’m also looking at Garbine Muguruza to recapture the form she showed to win the French Open. Simona Halep, on a really good day, has got so much potential too.

“However, more than anyone, I’m looking to Kerber. She has played some unbelievable tennis throughout this summer and mentally has got a lot stronger.”

After a week to rest up, taking in the sights of New York on the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan Island and strolling through Central Park, Kerber says she feels sufficiently refreshed to mount another challenge: “I’m feeling good, not just after getting some relaxation but because I have great matches in the last weeks, and especially a lot of positive emotions.”

The Sunday Times