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Angelique Kerber has already spoiled the party for Serena Williams once this year, beating her in the final of the Australian Open to deny her a 22nd Grand Slam.
And now the German has skittled the Williams sisters’ plans for a Wimbledon family final.
If that’s not motivation enough to flick Serena’s switch to beast mode, then the possibility of losing to the same player twice this season in Slam finals must surely be.
Only once has she fallen to the same player twice in a major final. Sister Venus is responsible for that and Kerber won’t be so welcome in that club.
Where the German lefty is renowned for her movement and counter punching, in Australia she produced fearless, aggressive tennis. She blunted anything Serena threw at her in the final, mixing in drop shots with winners off the ground at full flight.
In the same way Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur and later Garbine Muguruza upset the American great in Slam finals, all had nothing to lose. Kerber will retain that approach in her second Slam final, but she will need to play with the same temerity that she did in Australia if she is to stand any chance of derailing an inspired Williams a second time round.
“I expect, for sure, a really tough match. I know that she will go out and try to beat me, especially because she lost against me in Australia,” Kerber said.
“On grass she is always dangerous. I think she won here so many times, she will go for it. I know this. I know I have to play one of my best tennis [matches] tomorrow.”
Williams still has everything to lose. A third straight Grand Slam final defeat on the cusp of Graf’s Open Era record leaves little doubt the enormity of history would be taking its toll.
The world No.1 insists she is more relaxed. She has not won a Grand Slam title in a year but says she is more at peace than she had been in recent major campaigns.
Kerber will have to serve better than in her semi-final win over Venus. She was lucky her 36-year-old opponent only claimed half of her 10 service games as Kerber struggled mightily to get the job done on her own serve.
The German is all too aware.
“I think my serve will be really important, that I really start from the first point serving very well,” Kerber said. “Also the return. Then I think my movement will be also very important.”
A semi-finalist at the All England Club in 2012, Kerber is no stranger to success on the grass, but she is a markedly improved player on that run four years ago.
While she didn’t contest the Mallorca Open leading in, she did make a trip to the Spanish island to train, posting photographs of herself and Ana Ivanovic practising on the grass. She arrived in Birmingham as the defending champion but lost to Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarter-finals. It proved sufficient preparation as she is yet to drop a set in six matches en route to the final.
Kerber rates her chances even better on grass than on the hard courts on which she swept her way to the Australian Open title.
“For me [it’s] really good that I'm a lefty. When I have not too many nerves, I can serve a little bit better. This makes me much more dangerous than on hard,” she said. “Also I'm feeling good for my movement on grass. I really like to move on grass and just go for it when I have the chance going down the line.”
It’s Kerber’s chance to crash a Williams party once more. The opportunity to preserve her idol Graf’s Open Era record, though, plays no part in her motivation.
“I will try to go in my own way, trying not to think too much about the history of my opponents,” she said. “It's a new day, a new match.”
