Angelique Kerber – Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What made her game so difficult to figure out in the first set?

ANGELIQUE KERBER: I don’t know. I really don’t know what to expect. I never play against her. For me it was really tough to find my rhythm, but also find out the way she is playing.

I’m happy that I turned around the first set. The second set was still close. I think she played really well. I was fighting, especially in the important moments at the beginning of the second set.

I’m happy I won the match. The first match, doesn’t matter against who you play, for me they’re always tough.

Q. At this stage of your career, it’s not often you run into people for the first time. How do you adjust to that?

ANGELIQUE KERBER: It’s not so easy. A lot of young players are coming now. I’m getting older, so this is what I’m feeling. A lot of names that I don’t know so well, yeah, than few years ago.

I think it’s good to play against these players, to get used to it, to find out the way also for me, like for my mind, for my confidence, that I still can turn around. Doesn’t matter against who I’m playing, I know I always have to play good tennis. Looking forward to always playing my game.

Q. What about tomorrow, what can we expect?

ANGELIQUE KERBER: I think tomorrow is another match, another day. We start from zero. It’s the same like today: I have to play and focusing more on the game I will play, not too much on the opponent.

Yeah, I hope that I can learn from this match, taking the rhythm that I had in the second set for my next one.

Q. When you were down in the first set, from a tennis perspective, tactical perspective, what were you able to do differently to turn it around?

ANGELIQUE KERBER: She was hitting the balls good. I was not moving so well, to finding the middle, playing more aggressive but also bringing lot of balls back. So finding more the game I am playing, not just putting the balls, like bringing the balls back. She was the one who was, like, yeah, taking the ball in her hands. I was trying to turn around that.

Q. You want to be aggressive usually, but when the aggressive shots aren’t landing, how much confidence do you have in your ability of a Plan B?

ANGELIQUE KERBER: Yeah, I think I always have the Plan B: to run, to bring balls back, to stepping one step back. This is always my confidence that I can do this.

On the other side, I mean, this is not a game I would like to play, so I’m always trying to finding the way to playing both of these. Sometimes it’s not working, the Plan A, then I have to go to B again.

It’s just dealing with the situation on court.