Like Serena Williams or Kim Clijsters a few years ago, like Elina Svitolina and Caroline Wozniacki last year, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Emma Raducanu are launching an attack on the ladder. Uncertain comeback attempts for Grand Slam winners (Australian Open 2019 and 2021, US Open 2018 and 2020 for Osaka; Australian Open and US Open in 2016 and Wimbledon 2018 for Kerber; US Open 2021 for Raducanu).
After a depression which shook the tennis world, then motherhood (her daughter Shai was born last July), the Japanese made her comeback at the beginning of January. By pocketing a victory against the German Tamara Korpatsch (81st) in Brisbane, before losing against the Czech Karolina Pliskova (37th). “The last two years I played before I had my daughter, I didn’t give back as much love as I was given. I really feel like this is what I want to do now. I really appreciate people coming to support me. I think just getting on the court is a personal victory, because a few weeks ago I doubted I would be able to play with everyone. These two matches proved to me that I was doing well and that the year was going to get even better for me… I know that if I continue to train and work, I will eventually get to where I want to be », summarized the Japanese, former world number 1. How far will she manage to climb? Will she be patient and strong enough to digest the first failures? She will ask her desires and the questions against Caroline Garcia (n°16) in the 1st round.
Absent since Wimbledon 2022 due to maternity, Angelique Kerber returned to competition and success by participating, alongside Alexander Zverev, in Germany’s victory at the United Cup. The second German (after Steffi Graf) to have occupied the world No. 1 position returns to show off her left-handed game. She who had released her biography (Strength of Will; the force of will) will have enough to nourish new chapters, those experienced during a second, more fulfilled, more serene career. “On the court, I’m a little more relaxed, which, looking back, wasn’t always the case. So that has changed a bit. As a mother (of little Liana), it’s different. I always have it in mind. It’s not like I go on the court and forget that I’m a mother. I don’t think I’ll ever be in the same mode as before. It has really changed. You always have it in mind. Even if you enter the field, you always think that you are not alone, that there is someone more important than you, and you keep that in mind. But maybe it gives you a little more motivation.” She will face the American Danielle Collins (54th), finalist in Melbourne in 2022.
Her protected ranking was not enough but the Briton, taking advantage of several withdrawals, was able to make her way to the big picture without going through qualifying. On the BBC, the surprise winner of the US Open 2021 (titled after coming out of qualifying without having lost a single set in 10 matches) is, after 8 months of absence, returned to a nightmarish year 2023 after operations on her wrists and to an ankle: “It was difficult, especially the first few months. When you’re so used to being active and moving all the time, you suddenly find yourself deprived of everything. My wrists and one foot were injured and I couldn’t even use crutches. I had a kind of scooter that allowed me to move around with one leg. I think I’m a better tennis player than before the cut. I train and play very well. And physically, I’m doing things that I didn’t do before. I have confidence in my body, which is very nice, and I feel good tennis-wise. I feel reborn in some way. I feel fresh, I feel ready, I feel happy and I feel excited.” Crossing her fingers that her body resists the intensity developed to implement her comeback, she will be opposed to the American Shelby Rogers (156th) whom she met in the round of 16 during her dream US Open…
