[2] She grew up in Kiel, where her family stayed in an apartment in a training academy where her parents work,[4] and started playing tennis at age three, eventually joining the junior circuit.

Shortly after, she appeared in the main draw of a WTA tournament for the first time, in Birmingham, where she reached the third round, losing to fifth seed Marion Bartoli, who was the eventual runner-up at Wimbledon that year.

Next, she faced 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska and pulled off a shock three-set victory before going on to beat both Alla Kudryavtseva and Monica Niculescu to reach her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal.

[22] After an early exit in Madrid,[23] Kerber advanced to the semifinals in Rome after avenging her Stuttgart loss to Kvitová in the last eight, which ensured herself a rise to the top 10 rankings for the first time in her career.

[27] Kerber continued her steady rise of 2012 on grass, firstly by posting a runner-up appearance in Eastbourne, losing to a close final to Tamira Paszek, having served for the championship in the deciding set and missing five match points.

[55] During the Asian swing, Kerber's form improved as she reached her second final of 2013, at the Pan Pacific Open, having defeated Ivanovic, Wozniacki and Radwańska en route, but there, she lost to Petra Kvitová in three sets.

[6] Kerber began 2014 the same way she did in 2013, logging in quarterfinal or better results in both Brisbane and Sydney,[61] going one round better in the latter this time around by making the final but there, she was stunned by qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets.

[68] After a two-match losing streak across Dubai and Indian Wells, fifth-seeded Kerber made her first quarterfinal showing in Miami, where she lost to defending champion Serena Williams in straight sets.

[69] In April, Kerber helped put her country in the Fed Cup final, with Germany taking on Australia in the last four, by winning both her singles rubbers, against Samantha Stosur and Casey Dellacqua.

[72] On grass, Kerber enjoyed better results this year, starting off with her second appearance in the championship match at the Eastbourne International but finished runner-up once more, her third of 2014, this time to youngster Madison Keys in three sets.

[73] At Wimbledon, Kerber was seeded ninth and entered the second week for the fourth Grand Slam tournament running, with victories over the likes of defeated Urszula Radwańska, Heather Watson, and previous year's semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens.

[80] After a string of early exits in Montreal and Cincinnati,[81][82] Kerber made the third round of the US Open with wins over Russian qualifiers, Ksenia Pervak and Alla Kudryavtseva, but lost to unseeded youngster Belinda Bencic.

[98] Kerber won in straight sets and subsequently advanced to her third final of the season where she defeated Karolina Plíšková in a tight three-setter for her sixth career title, her first on grass.

[6] Kerber began the year at the Brisbane International, posting a runner-up result, with wins over Camila Giorgi, Madison Brengle, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Carla Suárez Navarro en route to the final, where she lost to former champion Victoria Azarenka.

[127] At Wimbledon, fourth-seeded Kerber did not drop a set, with wins over Laura Robson, Varvara Lepchenko, Carina Witthöft, Doi and fifth seed Halep, en route to her second semifinal here.

Two more wins, over Konta and Madison Keys, saw Kerber book her spot in the gold medal match, where she was defeated by surprise finalist Monica Puig of Puerto Rico in three sets.

[136] At the US Open, Kerber beat the likes of Polona Hercog, Lučić-Baroni, CiCi Bellis and 14th seed Petra Kvitová to make the quarterfinals here for the first time since her semifinal run back in 2011.

[144] At the start of the 2017 season, Kerber competed at the Brisbane International as the top seed, and won her opening match against Ashleigh Barty in three sets but then lost to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.

[147] As the top-seeded player and defending champion at the Australian Open, Kerber overcame a mid-match lapse to see off Lesia Tsurenko in the first round, where she squandered a match point in the second set.

The following month, at the Pan Pacific Open, Kerber recorded her best result since Monterrey back in April, as she took revenge on Osaka and then defeated Kasatkina and Plíšková,[160][161] before falling in the last four to Pavlyuchenkova.

[179] Kerber carried on her good form through the Miami Open by sailing into the quarterfinals, defeating Johanna Larsson, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Wang Yafan en route, where she was stopped by eventual champion Sloane Stephens, thus ensuring the latter her top-10 debut.

[191] There, she avenged her loss in Indian Wells earlier in the year to Daria Kasatkina, needing seven match points to seal the revenge[192] and then defeated 12th seed Jeļena Ostapenko to reach her second Wimbledon final.

[216] Kerber her clay season in Stuttgart where she made the quarterfinals,[217] but then had to withdraw in the second round of Madrid, having defeated Lesia Tsurenko in straight sets prior, owing to an injury in her right thigh.

[227] At the Pan Pacific Open, Kerber won consecutive matches for the first time in three months by seeing off Americans in Nicole Gibbs and Madison Keys to reach the semifinals, where she lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.

[231] Next, at the Adelaide International, she beat Wang Qiang in straight sets to open her tournament here before retiring against eventual runner-up Dayana Yastremska due to a left hamstring injury.

[239] However, it was later discovered that her flight to Melbourne carried a COVID-19 infected passenger,[240] forcing her into a mandatory and strict hotel quarantine for two weeks which severely limited her practicing opportunities besides preventing her from participating in the aforementioned tournament.

After an early exit to Victoria Azarenka in Berlin,[247] she won the title at the inaugural Bad Homburg Open,[248] having need to come back from a set down in each of her quarterfinal and semifinal matches, against Amanda Anisimova and Petra Kvitová, respectively, to make her third final in a row on grass, and her first since Eastbourne two years ago.

[264] Following a straight-set win over Anhelina Kalinina in the second round to avenge her loss in the French Open earlier in the year, she encountered Sloane Stephens, an opponent she had lost to on five prior occasions.

Kerber entered the 2024 Miami Open using her protected ranking, but lost in the first round to Sloane Stephens, a setback after a successful tournament at Indian Wells a week earlier.

Kerber has received the following awards: Chris Evert (1975/1985 – 260 w) Evonne Goolagong (1976 – 2 w) Martina Navratilova (1978/1987 – 331 w) Tracy Austin (1980 – 22 w) Steffi Graf (1987/1997 – 377 w) // Monica Seles (1991/1996 – 178 w) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1995 – 12 w) Martina Hingis (1997/2001 – 209 w) Lindsay Davenport (1998/2006 – 98 w) Jennifer Capriati (2001/2002 – 17 w) Venus Williams (2002 – 11 w) Serena Williams (2002/2017 – 319 w) Kim Clijsters (2003/2011 – 20 w) Justine Henin (2003/2008 – 117 w) Amélie Mauresmo (2004/2006 – 39 w) Maria Sharapova (2005/2012 – 21 w) Ana Ivanovic (2008 – 12 w) Jelena Janković (2008/2009 – 18 w) Dinara Safina (2009 – 26 w) Caroline Wozniacki (2010/2018 – 71 w) Victoria Azarenka (2012/2013 – 51 w) Angelique Kerber (2016/2017 – 34 w) Karolína Plíšková (2017 – 8 w) Garbiñe Muguruza (2017 – 4 w) Simona Halep (2017/2019 – 64 w) Naomi Osaka (2019 – 25 w) Ashleigh Barty (2019/2022 – 121 w) Iga Świątek (2022/2024 – 125 w) Aryna Sabalenka (2023/2024 – 9 w)