After her career ended, things became quiet for Angelique Kerber. Now she is announcing what new job she is taking on.
After around four months as a “tennis pensioner”, Angelique Kerber is finding her way better and better in her new life. “It’s different, very different. What I really enjoy is having time and not having to travel anymore,” said the former world number one HE DOES: “What I really miss is the competition. It will probably always stay that way.”
The 36-year-old ended her successful career after the quarter-final exit at the Olympics in Paris. She didn’t fall into a hole afterwards – her role as a mother alone prevented that.
Kerber: “There was a certain fear in me”
“I have to admit, when I look back a few years, there was a certain fear in me about what would come next,” said Kerber: “There are simply a lot of tennis players who don’t know exactly where they belong , when their career eventually ends. But with a child who needs you, who is so much more important than anything else, there is no hole to fall into.”
However, the three-time Grand Slam winner first had to adjust to her new daily routine without life as a competitive athlete.
“You really have to learn everyday life. “You have to build new rituals, new routines, restructure your day,” said Kerber: “At the same time, you no longer have to be quite as disciplined when it comes to, for example, your diet or when you have to be in which place.”
After two decades as a professional, she “of course has to work off her training, but she doesn’t have a fixed training plan.” Kerber tries to “get two hours for myself every day in which I can do active exercise or go to the gym. In the end, the days are really short and you wonder where the time has gone.”
“I wrote a book and a lot came up.”
Kerber has first sorted out where the past 20 years have gone: “I wrote a book and a lot came up.”
Starting next year, Kerber will pass on her vast experience to possible successors, support the young female talents of the German Tennis Federation (DTB) as an advisor and also create connections with the top German players.
“For example, I will be there at the games in the Billie Jean King Cup, but also at some courses for the top talents at the DTB bases,” said Kerber: “Sometimes it will be more of a role as a mentor, sometimes I will I have one-on-one conversations or provide individual coaching.”
