Angelique Kerber has opted to go for a new coach in the form of Dirk Dier after having parted ways with her former one two months ago. And she would hope that can turn her fortunes around after having seen them dip dramatically for the 2018 Wimbledon winner.
The German, who reached a peak of number one on the WTA Rankings in September 2016 after winning the US Open that year, added a third Grand Slam title to her kitty at Wimbledon 2018. She had earlier won the Australian Open title in 2016 too and made the final at Wimbledon that year.
Few days of practice with @carowozniacki– intense workout but never too serious… ? pic.twitter.com/BWjYcawaII
— Angelique Kerber (@AngeliqueKerber) August 18, 2019
However, since that victory at Wimbledon in 2018, her form has fallen away and also led to the sacking of Rainer Schuettler earlier this year. Kerber’s best showing over the past five Grand Slams has been a fourth round at the Australian Open and first round defeats at the French Open and US Open have punctuated her slide.
In fact, since winning her first round match at Wimbledon this year, Kerber has lost five matches in a row including four on hard court surfaces. Earlier this week, Kerber was knocked out of the Zhengzhou Open by Alison Riske in the opening round, losing in three tough sets.
Dier is the German Tennis Association (DTB) national coach and has been exempted by the tennis association to work with Kerber on a temporary basis.
The two have previously worked together in the Fed Cup, with Dier having played at the highest level too for a decade. He has coached Anna-Lena Gronefeld and his main objective could be to stall Kerber’s free-fall and ensure some sort of a performance stability in the rest of the year.
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