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2016 US Open Champion Angelique Kerber has announced the birth of her first child, hopes to make a return this year.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber has welcomed the birth of her first child, Liana.
Kerber took to her Twitter page to announce the good news with the caption: "Welcome to our family, Liana *25.02.2023. Having you with us is the most beautiful & overwhelming feeling we could have ever imagined."
The 2016 Australian Open and US Open champion made her pregnancy known in August 2022, when she withdrew from the US Open.
"I really wanted to play the @usopen, but eventually I decided that two against one just isn‘t a fair competition.
"For the next months, I will take a break from traveling the globe as a tennis player but then again, I believe it’s for the best possible reason ! I will miss all of you," she wrote in one of her threads on Twitter.
Kerber hopes to make a comeback in 2023
In a December interview with wtatennis.com, the 36-year-old said she hoped to come back in 2023, after speaking with Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Victoria Azarenka about navigating the challenges of motherhood and playing professional tennis.
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“When you talk now to them, it’s more intense listening to what they say,” Kerber said from her home in Poland. “We see the moms can come back, also winning big titles. And I hope I can also be one of them, an inspiration for new moms and women to come back to doing their business,” she said.
And on when she will likely make a comeback to the court, she didn't give a definite answer.
“I don’t know what time or which tournament because I really want to take the time,” Kerber said. “And when I come back, I want to come back 100 percent, fit again and feel good. This is the plan.”
Kerber’s last match was June 27, losing in the third round at Wimbledon to Elise Mertens. Her last title came a month earlier, in Strasbourg back in May, and she was ranked as high as No.15 in 2022.
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She has fourteen career singles titles across all surfaces, including three major titles (2016 Australian Open, US Open, and 2018 Wimbledon title). She also won a silver medal in the women's singles representing Germany at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
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