Three-time Grand Slam champion, Angelique Kerber, will not be moving on to the second round at this year’s French Open. The Wimbledon champion was defeated by Anastasia Potapova, currently at world number 81, in a 6-4 6-2 match.
Kerber, however, has not blamed her defeat on her ankle injury. She said that she was not expecting much from her performance in Roland Garros. After all, she did pull out of the clay tournaments in Rome and Madrid, which was held earlier this month.
Prior to her appearance in the French Open, Kerber only played in three matches on clay courts this season. In fact, just around two weeks ago, she was not entirely sure she would be able to compete in the tournament.
According to Kerber, “At the end I didn’t have much expectation for the tournament. And I think the feeling I had before the tournament was right… I was able to practice in the last few days really good, but it was not a long clay-court preparation with everything. At the end, I was just happy to at least go on court, playing a match, and of course it is not like I hoped for.”
Despite just recovering from ankle injury, Kerber has stated that she has not yet fully recovered yet. However, she is not using it as an excuse. When asked whether or not she was suffering pain, she said, “It is not my excuse, I tried my best. I know there is still a little bit of work to do to play matches 100%, into sliding, to jumping on the foot, and on the leg.”
Elsewhere in the competition, Garbine Muguruza defeated Taylor Townsend in a 5-7 6-2 6-2 match. Potapova, on the other hand, will be going against Marketa Vondrousova in the next round.