All those shiny days from last year seem to have gone forever for Angelique Kerber. The 29-year-old German currently ranked third in the world lost the top spot after failing to defend last year's result at Wimbledon Championships. She lost in the fourth round of the contest to the eventual champion Garbine Muguruza from Spain. But, that match was only a piece of the disastrous puzzle Kerber has been through this season. With no significant result under her belt since 2016, the German is likely to sink even more now that the calendar is moving on to the North American hard session, a place where she encountered so much success last year.
Kerber is still the acting US Open champion
Last season was by far her best ever on the WTA professional tour. Overall, she reached three Grand Slam finals winning two of them (Australian Open and US Open). Her only failure occurred at the French Open where she lost in the inaugural round to Kiki Bertens. After her success at Flushing Meadows in September 2016, there was nothing to announce the deep hole she was about to enter. The current season saw Kerber as a shadow of the player from 2016. With a single final under her belt (the WTA International event in Monterrey, Mexico), the current season is a mess for the former world no. 1.
Still, she is a two times Grand Slam champion and the unique feature is that she managed to reach her peak when no one really thought it might be possible.
At 28-years-old, she had her best moments as a professional player. It was truly a fairytale to dominate the women's tennis for about a year. This season may see her going down pretty hard as her defensive work is yet to be done.
US Open Series means that she has to defend many points
In order to remain a top-ranked player and ultimately a relevant one, Angelique Kerber must come as close as she can get to last year's results.
Therefore, she has to defend the US Open title, the runner-up status in Cincinnati and a semifinal in Canada. These three WTA events will be making up the bigger part of the WTA action over the next several weeks. If she fails to do so, she might see her ranking plunging deeper.
Although it seems that her name will slowly fade away, she must be given the credit of breaking Serena Williams' dominance over the WTA professional tour.
It's an accomplishment that only a few can brag about over the past few seasons. Currently, Kerber is ranked 15th in the WTA Race of 2017. As a result, she is in danger of missing this year's WTA Finals in Singapore.
