Angelique Kerber's second run as the top-ranked player on the WTA Tour is over. She initially claimed the No. 1 ranking back in September when she won the 2016 US Open. At that moment in her career, she was not only the active champion at Flushing Meadows, but she held the Australian Open title as well. Furthermore, Kerber had a runnerup finish from Wimbledon 2016, and the three results all helped make her the best player on the women's tour.
However, after originally claiming top spot, Kerber did not stay No. 1 the whole time between the end of the 2016 US Open and Monday, the day that the rankings updated after Wimbledon 2017.
Serena Williams was able to get back to top spot for a short period earlier in the 2017 season. With Karolina Pliskova now becoming the new World No. 1, Kerber's reign as the queen of tennis has again been halted. It's possible that the German might get back to the top at some time, however it may be more probable that her time on top of women's tennis is over. Accordingly, it's a good time to reflect on her legacy as she loses top spot to a much younger player.
Kerber never won a thing as No. 1
A big part of Angelique Kerber's legacy as the World No. 1 player for women's tennis will be the fact that she never won a single tournament after originally getting to top spot. That she was the World No.
1 that no one was scared to face in any event will be a big part of what people remember about her reign. After initially becoming No. 1 with a US Open title, Kerber went 0-18 in looking for another title in any event - whether big or small.
In the big tournaments, she rarely did well at all. For instance, she fell in the middle round of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon 2017.
At the 2017 French Open, she was the top seed and set a mark for futility from that point of view, going out in the very first round. When it came to the big events, Kerber's only significant result as the top-ranked player was her runnerup finish at the tour finals last year, an event that she lost to Dominika Cibulkova.
In the smaller events, Kerber was almost a no-show when you consider what her ranking was.
Usually, when No. 1 ranked players enter the low-tiered events, they are huge favorites to make the late rounds. But in low-tiered tournaments like Brisbane, Sydney, Doha, and Stuttgart (among others) the German failed, as the top seed, to make even the semifinals. Kerber, during her time as No. 1, suffered numerous losses to players ranked outside of the top ten, form unbecoming to players of her ranking.
Kerber's total weeks at No. 1 significant
At the age of 29, her time on tour is not done. But at present her cumulative-weeks total at the World No. 1 is stagnant. In her two runs combined, she has a total of 34 weeks as the top-ranked player. It must be pointed out that this is certainly not a modest total when compared to what other No.
1s have achieved. Kerber has spent more time as the top-ranked player than all of Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Jennifer Capriati, Kim Clijsters, and Maria Sharapova, among others. Kerber sits 12th all-time in terms of weeks spent as the top-ranked player and that fact will include her on the long list of great players when pundits debate women's tennis history.
Kerber, it should be pointed out, did hold the No. 1 ranking at a time when women's tennis had a palpable dip in active talent. Kerber's biggest successes were in 2016, a year where Maria Sharapova was suspended for the most part. Furthermore, the heir apparent to the throne of women's tennis, Belinda Bencic, suffered setbacks at this stage in her career.
Additionally, Victoria Azarenka went on maternity leave in 2016 - just when she seemed poised to claim numerous titles after winning both Indian Wells and Miami that season. With Serena Williams not always playing in the non-Grand Slam events, Kerber succeeded in a period of women's tennis where great players, for one reason or another, simply weren't too active.
That insight might indeed get lost as the years pass, but then perhaps it should. Certainly other World No. 1s have found the spotlight after better players had to yield it for one reason or another. Kerber, to her credit, is unlike Pliskova and former World No. 1s in Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, and Jelena Jankovic. Kerber, contrary to those four players, has Grand Slam titles to her credit.
They may not have been won during her reign as the top-ranked player, but she has two titles from the 2016 Grand Slam season. Those titles and her cumulative weeks as the best player in the world, might put her in the top 25 for great players in the Open Era.
