“Dream of my dreams” – kerber writes summer tales

This time, angelique kerber writes the summer marathon for germany. On the weekend when the german sports scene was about to celebrate the world championship title with the national soccer team, the 30-year-old from kiel immortalized herself in tennis history and won wimbledon.

"It was the dream of my dreams. That will stay forever. I can always say now that I’m wimbledon champion," says kerber after her coup over serena williams. Kerber is the first german to triumph since steffi graf in 1996, and only the third german ever to do so.

On sunday, she is particularly looking forward to the champions dinner in the evening, which she has previously only known from television. "I must have tried on 50 dresses," she says, describing her tricky fashion fitting. In the end, she chose a dress that was "very elegant and very simple". "This is wimbledon for me."

For the first time, she appears on the tennis court on church road without her sportswear, but in a breezy summer dress – after an evening meal with her mother beata and her team and a visit to the bar until "about four-thirty". It was already light.

She feels completely different. "I feel like everything is falling off me," says kerber. "I think i need a few more days before i really realize that i really won wimbledon."

Round 200 messages arrived on her cell phone after her coup, one of them from her role model steffi graf. "She congratulated me, she wrote to me that she had followed this, that she was happy with me, that I should enjoy this and that I deserved this," says kerber. "It’s always nice when i get a message like that from steffi, especially here at wimbledon."Her name now stands in a row with graf, boris becker and michael stich.

Kerber’s picture will soon be hanging in the gallery of honor with famous protagonists such as graf and boris becker. "It is a great honor for me to be the next german wimbledon winner after steffi". To be the next german to come home with this trophy, it doesn’t get any better than that," says the now three-time grand slam winner. "What more could you want? I have made it." Many had bet on another triumph of the 2014 fubball world champion, but hardly anyone expected kerber to be the champion on the green grass.

With her unbending will and her passion she showed the critics at the most famous of all tennis tournaments. She proved that 2016 was no exception, that she can work her way out of crises. Perhaps also proved to herself.

Wimbledon pays more than anything else. That’s why this 14. July 2018 more highly rated than her two previous grand slam coups. "I’m through with my life," stammers kerber flatly directly after the match in the catacombs. Chancellor angela merkel is delighted with the "inspiring performance" of the third german wimbledon winner after cilly aussem in the 1930s and steffi graf in the 1980s and 90s. "We have to share our living room now !!!", tweets three-time winner becker, looking at his favorite statue.

In rough finals, the north german, who lives in puszczykowo, poland, plays her best tennis. She plays fearlessly, dominating williams in surprisingly clear 6-3, 6-3 win. "Because i’m already 30," as she answers with a laugh, relaxed and poised as never before in the two history-making wimbledon weeks. Even as a young girl, she admired graf’s dominance in front of the television set. Here she also wanted to be, here she also wanted to triumph once.

Doubts do not let them arise on saturday. Her strength is suddenly back. Kerber herself describes the past epidemic year with many low points as necessary ubel for the wimbledon victory. Even the head of german women’s tennis, barbara rittner, was skeptical in 2017: "i already thought in the second half of the year that if she didn’t slowly change something, it would be tight. Then she won’t come back to the old strong one," says the 45-year-old.

Williams is a fair loser. Kerber had mercilessly exploited the fact that, ten months after the birth of her daughter, the 36-year-old is not yet at the same level as she was during her 23 previous grand slam victories. Williams’ journey through only her fourth tournament since the break has been impressive. "For all the mothers out there, i played for you today," says the u.S. Woman. "It was such a rough fight for me to come back. If I can do it, so can the other mothers."Kerber won her first grand slam against williams in australia in 2016. In the hustle and bustle following her outstanding season, which saw her leap to the top of the world rankings, it all became too much for the left-hander at the time.

Now she wants to handle the requests and appointments off the field and the expectations on the field differently, says kerber. Before the upcoming tournaments in america, she wants to "take a bit of a vacation. This is at the top of my list. This is what I have learned."

The now three-time grand slam winner has matured and developed as a person and personality. Her sometimes harsh self-criticism, her perfectionism and her ambition have remained and made the wimbledon victory possible in the first place. Her will has led her to change coach from the usual torben beltz to belgian wim fissette. "She hates nothing more than new people around her," says rittner. "The fact that she took this step and was rewarded gives her something to live for."

Only the french open is still missing in her grand slam collection. "It’s a reassurance for myself inside that i won wimbledon."