DPA
Paris
Angelique Kerber’s tennis career came to an end when the former world number one and three-time Grand Slam champion lost 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) against Zheng Qinwen in the Paris Olympics quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The sixth seeded Australian Open runner-up Zheng prevailed in a concluding tie-break after 3 hours 4 minutes, coming back from 4-1 down in the final set, and after losing the first set from 5-3 up at the French Open venue of Roland Garros.
German Kerber showed her famous fighting spirit one final time when she rallied from 6-3 down to 6-6 in the final tie-break, before finally hitting a forehand into the net on Zheng’s fourth opportunity.
"I have given everything I could, I left it all out there on the court,” a tearful Kerber told Eurosport.
"I left my heart here in Paris. It’s over now. But I love playing tennis and I couldn’t have imagined a better atmosphere for my last match.” The 36-year-old, who won every grand slam but the French Open, announced last week that the Olympics would be her final tournament.
She went out in the doubles with Laura Siegemund on Tuesday.
"This will be something very special when I look back,” added Kerber.
"Paris and I were never great friends but we part peacefully and I will never forget these Olympic Games.” Late bloomer Kerber won the Australian and US Open in 2016, an Olympic silver that year, and Wimbledon in 2018. She earned 14 career titles and spent 34 weeks at the top of the world rankings.
Born in 1988, when Steffi Graf won her famous Golden Slam, Kerber became the second most successful German player after the icon.
Kerber was a late bloomer, winning her first Grand Slam at the age of 28, when Graf had already earned 21 of her 22 titles at the majors.
Her first career title, indoors in Paris, came in 2012, and the last one also in France, in 2022 in Strasbourg.
One final highlight in Paris She went on maternity leave shortly afterwards but had not been able to return to the form of the past since coming back to tennis in January.
She however impressed one final time at the Olympics where she beat former world number one Naomi Osaka, Romanian Jacqueline Cristian and former US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez of Canada before it all ended against Zheng.
How the match unfolded Kerber squandered an early 3-1 lead by dropping four games in a row but then fought back from 5-3 down to take the opening set in the tie-break.
In the second, she immediately overcame dropping serve in the third game but Zheng got the vital advantage in the ninth en route to locking the sets.
The roof was closed owing to a storm warning and Kerber drew first blood to go 3-1 up. The German then saved three break points in a tense fifth game to confirm the break. But Zheng wasn’t done and won 10 points in a row to tie at 4-4.
That set up a dramatic conclusion after Kerber steadied the ship again. Kerber won the first point but the next four went to Zheng and she soon earned three match points.