No fan of practice, Angelique Kerber prepares for nostalgic battle with Caroline Wozniacki

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—Angelique Kerber is the sport’s quintessential counterpuncher, one who has spent the last decade-plus on tour effortlessly absorbing and redirecting the pace of her heavy-hitting rivals.

It’s no surprise, then, that the practice court—not even the gorgeously scenic ones on offer at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden—offers little inspiration for a new mom and three-time major champion who feeds off the intensity of the match environment.

“I practiced now for months,” Kerber sighed after reaching the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open, the best result since her comeback from maternity leave began in January. “I'm done with practice now. I'm happy to having matches now, because, you know, if you go out on the practice court every single day and doing the same things, it's nice to being now in the tournament.”

Practice has proven a necessary evil, one to which Kerber wholeheartedly committed when, along with the announcement that she was expecting her first child ahead of the 2022 US Open, she emphatically promised a return to action.

“It's not easy to coming back after such a long time as well, and, you know, playing again on a high level,” explained Kerber, who gave birth to daughter Liana last February, after a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 17 seed Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday. “I mean, it takes time. You have to be patient.

“Of course, there are always doubts sometimes if, you know, you are not feeling so well or, like, it's still such a long time for playing tournaments, because I started, yeah, last year. So, we had three, four months of practice, preparation. It was a long time, so that's why I'm happy to having tournaments now.”

I know I have to do it, but I'm not like the biggest fan of it. Angelique Kerber on practice

When told of fellow new mom Elina Svitolina using the time off as an opportunity to tinker with her own counterpunching style, the former world No. 1 admitted that, at 36, she was less concerned with coming back to the tour as another athlete entirely.

“Okay. I'm different, I think,” she said with a laugh. “You know, for me, I'm more a tournament player. I'm not like let's practice or let's go have a long practice period. I'm more, like, let's play tournaments, play matches, and this is more me. Of course, you need the practice time where you have to work on some things, trying to improving, yeah, little things.

“But, yeah, I know I have to do it, but I'm not like the biggest fan of it.”

Anyway, the practice she has done is paying off in spades in Tennis Paradise, where she is into the fourth round with wins over two seeds, including an on-fire Jelena Ostapenko. Prior to Indian Wells, Kerber had won just one match at United Cup, falling in the first round of both the Australian Open and the Upper Austria Ladies Linz—two tournaments where she once lifted the trophy.

“it is really important match, especially after the comeback, after I played not so well in Linz actually a few weeks ago,” she said after rallying from a set down to defeat the No. 10 seed on Friday. “Now, coming back here, I'm showing myself actually that hard work pays off, that I just have to make the transition from the practice court to the match court.

“This is what I felt before this tournament, that I need a lot of matches, especially matches like this, playing against the top players, and that I have the feeling that I'm strong again in important moments. This is completely different to the practice sessions. You know, you go on court, you have pressure, you are getting tired like I got as well in this match, and this is something you only can get when you play matches like this.”

Kerber will get another big test in her next match against another former No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, herself in the midst of a comeback after giving birth to two children. The German leads their head-to-head 8-7.

“Did you really have to, like, put that out there?” joked Wozniacki, who has been back on tour since last summer, and won their last encounter at the BNP Paribas Open in 2013—a dramatic three-setter infamous for its so-called “moonball” rallies.

“You know, we are friends now, and we will be still friends after a match,” Kerber said. “So, yeah, we will try, of course, both to win. But at the end, I think there are more important things than a tennis match, but I think for the crowd and for everyone it will be interesting match.”

And for Kerber, it certainly beats practice.