U.S. Open Champion Angelique Kerber Clinches WTA 2016 Player of the Year

Angelique Kerber is the surprise star of the year after winning the 2016 U.S. Open. The 28-year-old German rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third set to defeat Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. It was another hard-earned, clutch effort that solidified her new No. 1 ranking and left no doubt that she is the player of the year in the WTA.

Take a moment to appreciate Kerber’s year. She won the Australian and U.S. Opens, the two majors played on hard courts. She was a finalist at Wimbledon, silver medalist at the Olympics and winner at Stuttgart. She is the one who finally toppled Serena Williams’ record-tying reign at No. 1, a streak that had endured 186 weeks since late February 2013.

No matter what happens to end the tennis year from now to November’s year-end tournament in Singapore, Kerber’s 2016 will go in the record books as the best.

Rise of the Unorthodox Grinder

Kerber is not a dominating player. She will only be linked with legends Steffi Graf and Serena Williams because she hails from the same country as the former and has the timing to outlast Serena’s ups and downs in 2016.

Kerber was still relatively unknown when she surprised the tennis world by making it to the 2011 U.S. Open semifinals.  By the following year, she was a top-10 player and Wimbledon semifinalist, getting to No. 5 in the rankings.

Then the momentum stopped and Kerber settled in as a borderline top-10 player. She was just another star on a cloudy night, slipping in and out of Serena’s dominant reign. Kerber was solid but unable to do more than one quarterfinals appearance at a major (2014 Wimbledon) from 2013-15. There were no signs that she would rise to the very top.

Winning is never easy with Kerber’s unusual strokes. She’s a lefty with a sweeping forehand that comes nearly horizontal across her body, like watching throwback legend Jimmy Connors who bristled at hitting heavy topspin. Kerber is often bent over or crouching down for open backhands. She has to clear the net by inches and still fly it deep to the baseline, and this is not easy without …

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