WTA: Julia Görges – Brilliant final spurt, new hopes

Julia Görges has cemented her new position as the best German tennis player by winning in Zhuhai. This raises great hopes for 2018.

In fact, Julia Görges would have been on the beach in Dubai last week. The holiday was booked for a fixed period of time, the time-out from the months of tour-torture, the casual, sunny life in the glittering metropolis on the Arabian Gulf was already waiting for the professional athlete. But then things changed. Much better, much more beautiful,”simply absolutely perfect”, like Görges in the evening of a memorable 5th. November 2017. It was the day of her greatest career success, the day of victory at the B World Championships in Zhuhai, China – in the sudden overtime of a tennis year that ended like a fairy tale. A bouquet of flowers and a big compliment from the congratulating tournament ambassador Steffi Graf were also given there in Zhuhai as a nice encore:”A great match, a great ending for Julia,”said the German tennis legend.

With a victory at the top competition in Moscow, Görges had won the qualification for the so-called WTA Elite Trophy at the last minute, and in this championship, among top players, she simply continued with the victories and celebrations: Without losing a set, she won the title, scored a remarkable change in her 7:5.6:1 victory over the American Coco Vandeweghe in the final. It’s unbelievable,”said Görges later, after the official victory ceremony. Which also in black and white tuned: Because as high as now on world rankings 14th place, Görges had never before confessed in her moody, long, long years of extremely unpredictable career. There’s more to come,”twittered Barbara Rittner, head of the DTB women’s tennis team, on the Bad Oldesloerin’s coup.

The finale, this tournament in general spoke volumes, which self-confidence Görges developed during this season in the travelling circus. Time and again in recent years, the international player has appeared as a volatile, hard to assess force in women’s tennis, rather than as someone who makes the possible impossible. In 2011, she was the first player from the generation of the German “Fräuleinwunder” to win a major tournament, the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, but she could never live up to her high expectations. Others, such as Angelique Kerber or Andrea Petkovic, passed her by.

It was only when Görges turned her life upside down two years ago, radically repositioned her tennis company and showed courage for reform that new impetus came into her career – after the previous mediocre standstill. Görges ended his coaching years at the side of Sascha Nensel, moved to Regensburg, the home of her friend Florian Zitzelsperger. Michael Geserer, a quiet, unagitated and more discreetly acting Michael Geserer, was chosen as the coach,”This really has become a dream team,”says Görges,”I feel comfortable. Görges and her team did not make the same mistake as their team to rely on very fast success. The trio saw the collaboration as a long-term project, as a patience exercise:”In tennis, too often, there is a hectic swaying back and forth. With people and strategies. We didn’t want to do that,”says Coach Geserer.

The year 2017 did not bring a big bang for a long time either. But Görges regularly posted good results in her job references, avoided bitter disappointments and slowly worked his way up the world rankings. In the second half of the season, the upward trend accelerated and Görges even approached Angelique Kerber. Until she overtook the countrywoman, who had begun the year as number one, with the proud tournament victory in Moscow. Now she even further strengthened this new pecking order as B-world champion, with a brilliant spurt on the home straight. And a final show in which she won eleven of the last twelve games against Vandeweghe. 21 victories, only nine mistakes in 80 minutes of playtime – they were symbolic values for the new stability that combines with Görges? names.

With nine victories in a row, it’s now going on holiday with some delay. But also with the feeling that suddenly everything has become possible again in the travelling circus. Six years after the first wave of euphoria, after the first great hopes. Görges has given her career an amazing twist, she is now one of the players to watch out for in 2018. I’m confident that I’ll be able to do a lot more,”says Görges,”at the Australian Open in January, at the first Grand Slam of the season.