Angelique Kerber to fans: 'I gave everything I could today on court'

What a remarkable year it was for Angelique Kerber.

The 28-year-old German won the Australian and U.S. Opens, and was the runner-up at Wimbledon. She supplanted Serena Williams as the No. 1 player in the world in the process, and ended the year ranked first.

For much of the WTA Finals in Singapore, she was nearly flawless. Kerber looked head and shoulders above the rest of the field at times, going 3-0 in the round-robin stage before dismantling Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinals.

But then, in Sunday’s final, she ran into a runaway train in the form of Dominika Cibulkova. It was clear that Domi was on a mission, and Kerber was going to have to play one more brilliant match to slow her down.

Kerber, who had beaten Cibulkova five straight times—including earlier in the tournament—didn’t play poorly, but this was simply Cibulkova’s day. Kerber fought until the end, saving three championship points, but ultimately fell, 6-3, 6-4.

"I gave everything I could today on court,” Kerber told the crowd after the match as she struggled to hold back tears.

Cibulkova was the more dominant player on this day—she hit 28 winners to only 14 for Kerber—and made just 14 unforced errors. Kerber, usually as steady and consistent as anyone in tennis, had 23.

Once the disappointment of this match wears off, Kerber will have an offseason’s worth of time to revel in the success she had in 2016—and prepare to come back even stronger next year.