Global domination has rarely looked such little fun as the version experienced by world No.1 Angelique Kerber right now.
The 29-year-old German’s gloomy body language around No.1 Court for long periods of her 7-5, 7-5 second round win over Kirsten Flipkens suggested not so much a ruthless professional at the peak of her powers as a woman carrying the world’s burdens on her shoulders.
Had visiting Martians been observing this match after being told that one of the two players on court is currently the best female Earthling at this humanoid pastime of tennis, they would surely have picked world No.88 Flipkens as the bigger achiever, to judge from her shining confidence for much of the first set. They would have been puzzled by Kerber’s low-key reaction to overturning a 3-5 deficit to grab that opening chapter. Her laughing delight in victory after one hour and 45 minutes was good to see.
"“It wasn’t an easy match and for sure it wasn’t the best tennis I’ve ever played,” said Kerber, who will face America’s world No.70 Shelby Rogers in the last 32. “Kirsten is always tough to play on grass with the slice. I couldn’t find my rhythm in
the first few games. I was fighting for every point and that was the key at the end.”
Her lack of self-assurance was glaringly obvious from the outset, when she fluffed a drive volley which she would have eaten for breakfast here last year. She was a different player then, reaching the final and providing Serena Williams with a memorable challenge. But that was before she was US Open champion and world No.1, of course. It is only since then that all pleasure in her powers has deserted Kerber.
In the opening games she was repeatedly shaking out her left wrist as if her service hand was giving her discomfort, but as the set progressed it became clear this was a gesture of annoyance with herself. Flipkens, a 2013 semi-finalist, was galloping about the court with relish, profiting from her regular forays to the net. By contrast, Kerber reeled off four games – including a run of eight straight points – from 3-5 down without any sign of enjoying a moment of it, to turn the set on its head. A fortuitous net cord helped carve set point for the German, but there was nothing accidental about the beautiful winner springing from her racket which converted the opportunity.
As the scorching London day became a cloudy and humid evening, Flipkens swapped her habitual sunglasses for transparent lenses. Needing to put the first set reverse behind her, she continued to trouble Kerber with break points, and the passive quality about the German’s play seen in her first round win over Irina Falconi was again in evidence.
It was not until the No.1 seed passed Flipkens at the net to break for 3-2 that she began to look as if she had control of this battle, and a particularly tough hold for 5-3 looked crucial for Kerber, but Flipkens wasn’t done. Kerber needed two attempts at serving out the match, and it was hugely ironic that the Belgian player set up match point with a horrible volley error. But as in the first set, Kerber’s winner was perfection – this time a gorgeous lob.
The fact is that the German must win another four matches, and reach the final here for the second successive year, if she is to have any chance of retaining her No.1 spot. The chasm of challenging work between this second round victory and that ultimate showdown yawns wide for Kerber at the moment; but she must take heart from this hard-earned win over a tough opponent. But whether her apparent happiness at the end was actually mere relief is something only she can know.