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Angelique Kerber And Serena Williams Net Worth: German Tennis Player Wins Australian Open 2016

By Grishma Giri
Published on: 23:01 PST, Jan 29, 2016

German tennis sensation Angelique Kerber delivered a knockout punch against the defending champion and world No. 1 Serena Williams, triumphing her first major title 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to win the Australian Open 2016.

The 28-year-old, left-handed player bagged a whopping $3.4 million AUD prize money and raised her net worth to $20 million with the win. Serena Williams’ net worth currently stands at $145 million while she bagged $1.7 million AUD in prize money.

Kerber’s win also ended American’s bid to match Steffi Graf’s record of 22 major wins.

Currently ranked at No. 6 in the Women’s Singles World Ranking, Kerber started her Australian open within one point during the opening round, and it took her six matches to beat the best female player in the world and take home a Grand Slam title.

Having lost 11 consecutive first-round matches in 2011, Kerber’s vision and determination was clear right from the start of the tournament– she never let pressure take over her, which finally paid off.

“I got my second chance, and this is my dream come true,” Kerber said in her on-court interview. “My whole life I am working really hard, and now I am here and call myself a Grand Slam champion.”

Serena Williams, who was eyeing her seventh Australian Open title, started the game with a record of 21-5 in major finals and her prior losses in Grand Slam singles finals were to her sister Venus at the United States Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2008, to Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004, and to Samantha Stosur at the United States Open in 2011.

Kerber showed strong determination in her performance right from the start of the game and left Williams unsettled early in the first set. She brought Williams down after the American overcooked a sitting forehand far off the baseline, after which she started misfiring her shots one after another.

“Kerber remained calm and composed to keep Williams off the court and finish it easily on the first set. However, Williams started to pick momentum in the second set and got it in her bag, only to fall back again in the third,” The Guardian reported, describing the match.

Kerber started the first set at rapid pace and won the first eight of the nine points and made 2-1 on serve. After that, she went on to grab seven straight points and felt pressure on her serve when the score was 5-3. The score was at 5-4, and that was when Williams was brought down again for the final time.

“Let me congratulate Angi,” Williams said in her on-court interview. “You did so well, you played the best in the tournament, so let me be the first to congratulate you.”

Kerber was brought to tears with emotions as she addressed the crowd in joy.

“I was with one leg in the plane for Germany. I take my chance to be here in the final and play against Serena. My dream come true tonight, on this night. My whole life I was winning so hard and now I can say that I’m a Grand Slam champion… it sounds so crazy.

“I’m really enjoying this moment right now. This is the best two weeks of my life, my career. I had goosebumps when I was playing on the court.”

Angelique Kerber is also the first German woman to win an Australian Open since 1994 and the first left-hander to bag the title after Monica Seles in 1996. She also is the lowest seeded player to win the tournament since 2007, the last of which was a No. 81 seeded player, Serena Williams.

Kerber jumped to a world ranking of No. 2 with the win, only behind Williams and bagged a whopping $3.4 million AUD, more than one third of her career earnings.

She fought back the entire time and left Williams frustrated, at a point to when the American said “What can I do?”

Williams will now need to wait for the French Open to match Graf, which should add a little consolation to her loss this term.

[Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images]

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