Pressure's on Serena, Says Kerber

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Pressure's on Serena, Says Kerber

Angelique Kerber knows that Serena Williams is playing scary good tennis down under, but the first-time Grand Slam finalist isn’t letting it get inside her head.

More: Williams Defeats Radwanska to Reach her 7th Australian Open Final

The German, who saved a match point in her first-round match against Misaki Doi of Japan, is playing with house money in Melbourne and relishing the challenge of facing the world No. 1 in her first career major final. “I will go out there to try to challenge her, playing good tennis,” Kerber told reporters on Friday in a pre-final press conference. “I know that I won against her once, so I can beat her. But I must play my best I can play.”

Watching Williams destroy 4th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska the way she did during Thursday’s semifinal would put the fear of god in most players, but the 28-year-old Kerber is taking it in stride. She prefers to see Radwanska’s blowout loss as a cautionary tale rather than damning proof that Williams is unbeatable.

"I think she started unbelievable, with such a power and speed," Radwanska said of her experience on the battlefield against Williams. "I was just standing there kind of watching her playing."

Rather than let Williams' bristling form intimidate her, Kerber is choosing to let it educate her.

“I must be there from the first point and playing very deep,” Kerber said when looking ahead to Saturday’s final, the seventh career meeting between the two and first since 2014. “When I'm too short, [Williams is] just going for it. She is making winner, winner and winner. I saw it yesterday against Aga. I must be ready to play my game and being also aggressive like she is.”

Kerber’s task—defeating the 21-time Grand Slam champ in a major final—is the toughest task in tennis right now. Williams has won her last eight Grand Slam finals, and has never lost a major final with Patrick Mouratoglou as her coach.

Kerber, who is bidding to become Germany’s first Australian Open champion since Steffi Graf in 1994, has already become Germany's first finalist in Melbourne in 20 years. But the pressure to win the title, Kerber says, in on Serena.

“I don't have so much pressure like she has,” she says. “This is what I mean [when I say] that I have nothing to lose. I know I can lose the match. That's why I'm going out there to try to win the match.”

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