Former champion Angelique Kerber admits she’d have to think twice about this trip to Down Under after an opening day Australian Open exit came after a 14-day stint in hard quarantine.
The 23rd seed and 2016 champion was beaten in straight sets by American Bernarda Pera – little more than a week after leaving hotel confinement.
A quarter-finalist in the lead-up Grampians Trophy – an event organised specifically for the women’s cohort sent in hard lockdown – German Kerber had limited training time and played three matches before the Australian Open.
“I was really trying to staying positive and doing the best out of the two-week situation. But, of course, you feel it, especially if you play a real match where it counts and you play the first matches in a grand slam, also against an opponent who doesn’t stay in the hard lockdown,” said Kerber.
