Need a breather and calmly cope with the sobering start to the clay court season?

Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that.

Angelique Kerber continues without a break.

The best German tennis player had to check off her two three-set defeats at the weekend in Kazakhstan at the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly known as the Fed Cup, on the journey from Nur-Sultan back home.

Thomas Klemm

sports editor.

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The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix tournament is on the program for the Kieler this week in Stuttgart, and for the female pros it is one of the first highlights of the clay court season.

While Julia Putinzewa (51st in the world rankings) and Jelena Rybakina (19th) playing for Kazakhstan were too strong for Kerber at the weekend, she now has to deal with the world elite in the Stuttgart Arena.

Seven of the current ten best tennis players serve in Swabia, led by the Polish industry leader Iga Swiatek.

What is good for tournament organizers and spectators turns out to be rather bad for Angelique Kerber.

Because she is seventeenth in the WTA ranking and not one of the players seeded in Stuttgart, the 34-year-old German will have to deal with world number six Anett Kontaveit right from the start.

Kerber has only won one of the previous five encounters with the Estonian.

"Strong opponents are always an additional motivation for me," said Kerber, who won the tournament in 2015 and 2016.

After all, the three-time Grand Slam tournament winner had the opportunity to make friends with the unloved underground at the international match in Kazakhstan.

Progress was evident.

On Friday against Putinzewa, Kerber showed a rather mixed performance, the next day against Rybakina she played well at times and had the chance to win the match with a score of 5: 3 in the third set.

But Rybakina, who reached the quarter-finals of Roland Garros last year, won the last four games.

"I can't fault anything.

I really put my heart on the pitch," said Kerber after the end, which she found "incredibly disappointing."

After the 1:3 defeat in Nur-Sultan, the women's selection of the German Tennis Association will play on 11./12.

November against relegation in the Billie Jean King Cup.