Tennis News

In less than a week, reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber will take to the courts at Flushing Meadows to begin her bid for her second Grand Slam title of the year. Also at play? A chance to become WTA World No.1.

The 28-year-old is having the best year of her career, and she admits that she owes much of her late renaissance to her improved fitness.

“Right now I’m one of the fittest players in the world,” Kerber told CNN. “It’s strange, but it helps you really reach your goals at the end.”

CNN Open Court went inside the gym with Kerber to discuss how she gets Grand Slam fit, just in time for the final Slam of the year.

STUTTGART, Germany – The European clay season begins in earnest this week as hometown favorite Angelique Kerber leads the WTA into the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The two-time champion tops a draw that houses a host of elite players and threats on the dirt, as players look to get off on the right foot on the road to Roland Garros.

Check out 10 things to know ahead of Germany’s Premier red-clay event.

1) Star-studded sightings in Stuttgart.
Eight of the WTA’s top 10 are competing this week. Defending champion Angelique Kerber is the event’s top seed, as one of three former champions in the main draw.

2) Top seed, but not No.1 (for now).
Though Kerber will drop to World No.2 in the rankings on Monday, the German has a chance to reclaim the top spot in the WTA rankings should she reach the semifinals this week.

3) Good things come in threes.
Kerber could be the fourth player to three-peat in the history of the tournament, dating back to when Tracy Austin and Martina Navratilova did it at the event’s beginnings in Filderstadt. Maria Sharapova also won three straight tiles from 2012-14.

4) Siegemund sneaks in.
Last year’s runner-up Laura Siegemund earned the final wildcard to this year’s tournament at the 11th hour – the World No.37 was tabbed as the final entrant prior to Saturday morning’s draw.

5) Sharapova says hello.
The aforementioned three-time Stuttgart champion Maria Sharapova returns to the WTA this week.

6) An epic rematch first up.
Though both are unseeded, the first round match between Kristina Mladenovic and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni promises to have fireworks. The two have met already on clay this season, as the Croat took a marathon 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(13) victory in Charleston earlier this spring.

7) Game, set, match – for the first time.
Two of the event’s top 8 seeds will be looking to break a losing spell in Stuttgart this week. The No.6 seed and a wildcard in the event, Johanna Konta is 0-2 in her career at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, while No.3 seed Dominika Cibulkova has fallen in the first round in each of her four appearances.

8) Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
Several WTA stars will be returning to Stuttgart for the first time in a while this week, as Cibulkova makes her first appearance in the tournament since 2012, while Mirjana Lucic-Baroni plays the event for the first time in three years. Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova plays just her second Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, having fallen in the first round in 2011, and her first-round foe, 2010 runner-up Samantha Stosur appears for the first time since 2013.

9) Compatriots to do battle to commence play.
Two first-round matches will see countrywomen face off, as Elena Vesnina will play Daria Kasatkina — and the winner of the all-Russian showdown will face either Garbiñe Muguruza or Carla Suárez Navarro, who face each other in an all-Spanish clash.

10) Show your colors, then head to Stuttgart.
Nine players who will feature in the main draw are also donning their country’s colors this weekend – Kerber, Vesnina, Kasatkina, Siegemund, Johanna Konta, Simona Halep and CoCo Vandeweghe.