Angelique Kerber welcomes daughter Liana into the world

James Richardson
Delight for Angelique Kerber

Angelique Kerber has announced the birth of her first child, a baby girl named Liana on Tuesday.

Kerber revealed that she had given birth on Saturday 25 February 2023 in her public announcement on Twitter.

The three-time Grand Slam winner and her partner Franco Bianco, a fitness entrepreneur, are first-time parents.

https://twitter.com/AngeliqueKerber/status/1630555618716033025

“Welcome to our family, Liana *25.02.2023. Having you with us is the most beautiful & overwhelming feeling we could have ever imagined,” Kerber announced on Twitter.

Despite being 35-years-old, Kerber hopes to make a return to the WTA Tour after giving birth.

She says she is inspired by the mothers on tour, who come back and win tournaments.

“When you talk now to them, it’s more intense listening to what they say.

We see the moms can come back, also winning big titles. And I hope I can also be one of them, inspiration for new moms and women to come back to doing their business,” Kerber told the WTA.

Kerber wouldn’t put a timeline on her return to the court when she spoke to the WTA Tour’s media department back in November.

“I don’t know what time or which tournament because I really want to take the time. And when I come back, I want to come back 100 percent, fit again and feel good. This is the plan.”

While Kerber wasn’t at her peak best in the early part of 2022 she was still able to bag a title in Strasbourg.

Kerber reached the third round at Wimbledon before bowing out to Elise Mertens.

She was then absent from the tour for a few months but was set to return to action in the US Open swing.

Kerber then announced her withdrawal from events in Cincinnati and Toronto.

Soon after came the announcement that she was expecting her first child early in 2023.

Up until late last year she was hitting balls at the Angie Kerber Tennis Academy not far from her home in Puszczykowo, Poland.

Kerber says that she will be in no rush to get back on the tour, citing sage advice from other mothers regarding how to approach a return to work.

“Take your time,” Kerber said when asked what the best advice she has been given was, “enjoy the moment now. And then, they said I will feel when the time is there to come back. It’s better to take one month later than one month earlier.”