Facts & Stats

Five of Angelique Kerber’s most impressive career stats as she returns to the tour as a mom

The three-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 makes her comeback as a mom-on-tour in United Cup this week.

Published Dec 29, 2023

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Angelique Kerber's return to professional tennis is almost here—the three-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 will make her comeback as a mom-on-tour at the United Cup this weekend.

As a reminder of the German's incredible career achievements so far, here are five of the most impressive stats on her resume:

She’s one of only two players to have beaten Serena Williams in more than one Grand Slam final. Kerber battled past Serena to win the 2016 Australian Open title, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and again to win the 2018 Wimbledon title, 6-3, 6-3. She defeated Karolina Pliskova to win her other Grand Slam title at the 2016 US Open, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

The only other player to beat Serena in multiple Grand Slam finals is Venus Williams, in the 2001 US Open and 2008 Wimbledon finals.

She was the oldest first-time No. 1 in WTA rankings history. After Serena, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka had a stranglehold on the No. 1 ranking for almost half a decade, Kerber finally ascended to the top spot after winning the 2016 US Open at 28 years and 7 months.

She’s the third-oldest first-time No. 1 in WTA or ATP rankings history, after a 30-year-old John Newcombe and a 29-year-old Andy Murray.

Perhaps the most incredible MATCH stat of Kerber's career—she hit 11 winners to just 5 unforced errors against Serena in the 2018 Wimbledon final.

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She’s the only German woman other than Steffi Graf to win a major in the Open Era. And that’s some pretty, pretty good company—Graf won 22 majors in her career (the Australian Open four times, Roland Garros six times, Wimbledon seven times and the US Open five times).

She’s the only German other than Graf to reach No. 1 in WTA rankings history. She’s also one of only three lefties to become WTA No. 1, after another two absolute legends—Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles.

And finally, she’s one of only three women in WTA history to surpass $10 million in prize money in a single season. She earned $10,136,615 during her career-best 2016 season, which not only included her first two career Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open, but also reaching finals at three of the other biggest tournaments of the year—Wimbledon, the Olympics and the WTA Finals.

The other two women to record $10 million seasons are Serena (who did it twice in 2013 and 2015) and Ashleigh Barty (who did it in 2019).

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