DDF Tennis: Kerber hopes to replicate glory days Graf and Becker

Dubai - Kerber believes tennis is going to be very big again in Germany

In a country that breathes football, few recognised Angelique Kerber in Germany. If she roamed the streets of Munich or Berlin, she did so like any other ordinary woman. That was until she won the Australian Grand Slam.
It's not that they don't care for tennis. It's just that Steffi Graf and Boris Becker, in their contrasting styles, set the bar so high that it became impossible for the next generation to get a grip on it.
Graf and Becker were not just German icons. Their extraordinary exploits made them household names all over the world. But their retirement and the failure of the next generation to be remotely successful in Grand Slams left a big void.
"In Germany, if you don't win the Grand Slams, you are nobody," Philipp Kohlschreiber, the 33-year-old German baseliner whose best Grand Slam result was a quarterfinal appearance in the 2012 Wimbledon, joked when he spoke to us at the Dubai Tennis Championships last year.
Kohlschreiber can still walk on the roads freely, of course, without being bothered for 'selfies' and autographs. It was pretty much the same for Kerber until the last week of January last year.
Then a stunning upset win over Serena Williams in the Australian Open final changed all that.
The 28-year-old left-hander soon proved that she was no one slam wonder with another magnificent win at the US Open.
It was an unforgettable year -- a year in which she also reached the Wimbledon final for the first time, took an Olympic silver medal and dethroned Serena as the women's world number one. She was the first German since Graf to be ranked number one in the world.
And suddenly Kerber began to make heads turn in Germany.
It was unbelievable.
"Yes. It is much bigger than it was one year ago. Right now if I am going to a shop or to a restaurant, they recognise me," Kerber told reporters on her new-found fame in her home country.
"It doesn't matter how I am looking. So I can go with like normal clothes, inside they recognise me much more. Of course, when I go for a walk in Germany, they recognise me.
"But it's actually not that they are buttering me. They see me and sometimes they are coming to me and asking me for a 'selfie'.
"The biggest change happened last year after the Australian Open final because it was really big in Germany that I was the first one after Steffi to win any Grand Slam and I was everywhere in the newspapers and TV. So when I came back from Melbourne, it started getting bigger."
Kerber believes tennis is going to be very big again in Germany with the emergence of a 19-year-old sensation -- Alexander Zverev.
"It's difficult to predict if we will replicate the glory days of Steffi and Boris. But for sure right now, it is getting better. After my year Grand Slam wins last year, things are very promising," she said.
"Now Alexander also has started to play very well. He has already beaten many of the top players, including (Roger) Federer.
"I think Alexander has big talent and he is going to be a big star. Everybody knows him already.
So I think it can happen. I hope so. I hope it will be like it was a few years ago with Steffi and Boris, but I think it will be tough because right now soccer is much bigger in Germany than everything else. So we try to make it better."
Kerber will also hope for a better performance in Dubai after a poor start to the new season. A win in Dubai will take her back to the top of the WTA rankings.
"For me it is important to play my tennis and to find my rhythm again. That is what counts for me. Of course, I will give my best to win a lot of matches and then we will see if I can get back to No1."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com