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Goerges: Guided By New Voices

Goerges: Guided By New Voices

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

A change will do you good. For Julia Goerges, it was time for a new voice. After finishing the 2015 season ranked No.50, her highest season-ending rank since her breakout 2011-2012 seasons, the 27-year-old German ended her seven-year partnership with coach Sascha Nensel and brought on Michael Geserer. The decision has paid off and as the European clay court season begins, Goerges is shaping up to be one of the more dangerous unseeded player in the draws.

Goerges knew Geserer from club tennis in Germany, where he had been coaching her club team in Regensburg. Geserer made his mark by coaching Germany’s No.1 male player Philipp Kohlschreiber for years but had since chosen to step away from the tour to focus on family.

“I was playing for this club for the last two years, and I’m still playing,” Goerges told WTA Insider in March. “He was coaching me on the bench there for some matches. I’d gotten to know him for a bit longer before, and I really liked his way of saying things, very calm and has a good plan behind it. He sees a lot of good things, and tactically-wise he’s also very good.

“I thought I was going to ask him, but I didn’t really expect a yes because I knew he doesn’t want to travel anymore because he has two kids and a wife at home, so it’s not easy. I said, ‘Ok, why not ask? You can only get a no!’ He thought about it, and luckily, he changed his mind.”

Julia Goerges

In order to give Geserer as much time at home as possible, Goerges also brought on a second coach, Mathias Mischka, who works with her eight weeks out of the year. The entire team lives just five minutes from each other in Regensburg, 50 minutes outside of Munich. Goerges relocated to Regensburg from Hamburg during the off-season.

“It’s not very new for me because my mom was originally from there. It’s kind of like my childhood area! It’s very exciting and we all live close together so it’s very nice. We don’t need to travel to train somewhere, so we’re able to stay home. It’s very focused.”

Goerges’ signature seasons saw her reach a career-high ranking of No. 15 in 2012 and put together a stunning run to the title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in 2011; Stuttgart remains her biggest title to date.

Gifted with incredible power off the ground and on serve, she struggled with her consistency in the ensuing years and failed to replicate her earlier results. But after making the fourth round at two majors last season (Australian Open, French Open) Goerges found herself back on the right path. Which is why her off-season decision to swap coaches came, at first blush, as a surprise.

“I was working with my team before for seven years, and I thought this was a time when I needed to change something because I’d just turned 27, and I think I still have some good years ahead of me, and that’s the best time to change something – in the middle of your best age of your career.

“After seven years, I think you need to hear a different voice sometimes. I said, ‘Ok, I’ll take this new path, and looking for a new team.’ I took the right decision, in my opinion, because it’s always good to have a new team around, one you can put your trust into and it’s working pretty good, I can say.”

Goerges started the season by making her first final since 2012, losing to Sloane Stephens at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. She’s also notched quality wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Dubai Duty Free Championships and Samantha Stosur at the Miami Open. This week she joined the flurry of Germans into the second round of Stuttgart with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Alizé Cornet. Working with Geserer and Mischka hasn’t transformed her game, but it’s reinvigorated her emotionally.

Julia Goerges

“It’s probably not that different, but sometimes it’s just the voice that makes it different,” she said when asked about the differences between teams. “It’s probably the same things that we’re working on, but a new voice gets to other parts in the brain.

“I’m completely feeling like a new human being. I’m much more positive and forgiving myself of a lot of mistakes, what I haven’t done in past years. That’s something that’s working well.

“With a final at the beginning of the year, I think nobody expected that to happen in the first week. I know that I’m capable of playing in finals, but for it to happen in the first week of the year was a nice bonus. We’d been working together for just six weeks during the off-season, and it’s nice to have a good result like this. Also, with the doubles now, it’s kind of all working together, because even those doubles matches are helping me for singles.”

Tennis players will be quick to tell you that winning is winning. It doesn’t matter at what level of tournament or whether it’s in singles or doubles. For Goerges, her pairing with Karolina Pliskova in doubles has led to quick success too. The two have yet to win a title but since pairing last fall in Asia they made the quarterfinals in Wuhan and Beijing, the Australian Open semifinals – losing to eventual champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza – and the Indian Wells final. It’s a partnership that could see the two book a spot into the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global at the end of the season.

Karolina Pliskova, Julia Goerges

“I asked Kaja last year in Canada or Cincinnati if she wanted to play Wuhan and Beijing. She was always waiting for her sister to combine for doubles and play. I said, ‘If you want to play, we can. If not, I’ll look for someone else.’ At the end, we said we would play Wuhan and Beijing. We made the quarters of both and only lost to the No.2 and No.1 teams in the world.

“We had a lot of fun. She’s a very lovely girl and she’s very relaxed, which I like because it’s always about good communication in doubles and good connection. I have to be around positive energy, and it’s not easy if you’ve been playing singles for a while and go back into doubles. So you really have to have someone who can keep you up.

“Off the court, we get along very well and that’s something that makes me think I’ve found a really, really good partner. We just want to play the big tournaments this year, and if we do well and have a chance to go to the [WTA Finals], we’ll play some more. So far, we’ve taken it very seriously in the two events this year. We’re just enjoying it and having a very good time together, on and off the court.”

After an off-season that saw her focus primarily on fitness, Goerges says she’s much calmer on the court these days. She has confidence in her physicality and her ability to hang in the rally, which allows her to be more patient. At her worst, Goerges can pull the trigger early and recklessly in the rally, spraying the ball mightily with her fluid but extreme forehand grip. At her best she’s an all court player, something she’s been focusing on getting back to.

“For me, it’s important to find the balance between being aggressive and being a solid player. I have the capability to play with a lot of spin on my ball, which makes it a bit different for the other girls because a lot of women are playing flat, flat, flat, and hard, hard, hard.

“For me, it’s important to get the spin on the ball, have the control over the ball, and really mixing it up between flat and aggressive with spin. This is something where I say, ‘If I really play well, I don’t make many mistakes, but am still being aggressive at the same time, which makes it really tough for the opponent to have a good depth on the ball. But at the same time, I can really flatten out the ball as well.’

Goerges plays her second round match in Stuttgart against sixth-seed Roberta Vinci on Thursday.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DUBAI, UAE – Sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai will move to the top of the Road to Singapore leaderboard on Monday after their brilliant run to the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

They beat Chan Hao-Ching and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-3, to set up a final clash with Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

“It was closer than it looked,” admitted Hlavackova afterwards. “The second set got trickier…I’m very happy to go through.”

The Russian pair were first to book their place, beating third seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova, 6-4, 6-3.

“It was really important to win this game, and I’m just so happy that we’re in the final now in Dubai,” said Vesnina afterwards.

More to follow.

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Siegemund Stuns Halep In Stuttgart

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

STUTTGART, Germany – German qualifier Laura Siegemund continued her Stuttgart romp, backing up her first-round upset of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with an even bigger win over No.4 seed Simona Halep for a spot in the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

“I think it’d be presumptuous to say [the match] was perfect, because there is always something to improve,” Siegemund said. “But that was very good and of course I’m mega happy. I have not expected that it would go so smoothly.”

Halep, who was nursing a left ankle injury she picked up over the Fed Cup weekend during Romania’s 1-4 loss to Germany, was subdued against the German. The Romanian’s normally aggressive baseline play was noticeably absent, hitting only three winners and 10 unforced errors to Siegemund’s 28 and 14, respectively.

But Siegemund was undaunted by both the occasion and her ailing opponent. Playing in front of a local audience in her hometown of Stuttgart, Siegemund allowed Halep only three games in their hour-long match, winning 6-1, 6-2.

“I just played point by point,” the German said. “Sure, it’s definitely the biggest win of my career, but now after the match, I can only say, I have made few mistakes.

“I started very aggressively. That was the plan – attack her serve, tear open the field early. I know I’ve always done that well and it worked very well this time too.”

With the win Siegemund continues her upward momentum: earlier this year she defeated the World No.22 Jelena Jankovic at the Australian Open, and in Charleston she made the quarterfinals of a Premier-level event for the first time.

Siegemund will go on to play against Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals, the Italian having booked her spot after brushing aside Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-4.

 

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Buyukakcay Keeps Istanbul Dream Alive

Buyukakcay Keeps Istanbul Dream Alive

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

ISTANBUL, Turkey – On Friday afternoon, Cagla Buyukakcay created a little piece of history when she swatted aside No.6 seed Nao Hibino in the quarterfinals of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup.

Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

In a display of poise and passion, Buyukakcay delighted a bumper crowd with a 6-1, 6-2 victory that sees her become the first Turkish player to reach the semifinals of a WTA tournament.

After her first-round match, Hibino admitted to being a relative novice on the clay and it was a chastening experience against a visibly motivated opponent. Slipping and sliding to all corners of the court, the Japanese player was powerless to stop Buyukakcay romping through the opening set.

A pin-point backhand brought an early break in the second and from there Buyukakcay rode a wave of emotion all the way to the winning post.

“I’m so happy to be in the semifinals at home. Before I was feeling pressure at home and this year I’m enjoying the atmosphere,” Buyukakcay said. “For my career, obviously it’s important to compete at a high level and have good wins. It was one of my best performances and I’m happy it was at home – I’m even more hungry for the next match.”

There she will face another unseeded player, Stefanie Voegele, who defeated Kristina Kucova, 7-5, 6-2, in the following match on court.

“I don’t have anything to lose out there,” Buyukakcay added. “Of course I will do my best and I hope to reach the final. She has beaten some great players, so for sure it will be tough.”

Also through to the last four is No.5 seed Danka Kovinic, who overcame a disastrous start to see off qualifier Maria Sakkari, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. “Since last year I think I was in seven quarterfinals and finally I am in a semifinal,” Kovinic said. “I didn’t start very well – a lot of unforced errors and she didn’t miss – but after I tried to make more pressure on her, my balls were deeper on the baseline and I think that was the key.

“The third set was a battle, a lot of pressure but maybe I was a bit lucky. But I stayed positive and did not make a lot of mistakes at the end of the match.”

Meeting Kovinic for a place in the final will be Kateryna Kozlova after she defeated Anastasija Sevastova, 6-2, 6-3, in the evening session.

Kateryna Kozlova

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DUBAI, UAE – No.2 seeds and Olympic Gold medalists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina came through multiple rain delays and a thrilling match tie-break to knock out Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai – next week’s top-ranked team on the Road to Singapore leaderboard – 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 to each win their first title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

“Winning the trophy like here in Dubai, it’s very prestigious,” Vesnina said after the match. “It’s the first time we played final here. We were just passing by the corridor, and we saw the trophy. We were just really pleased with the result, because winning such a big title, it’s always giving us some confidence, some positive emotions.”

The Russians reunited last spring after nearly a year apart due to Makarova’s lower leg injury, and quickly resumed being one of the game’s top teams, not only taking home gold at the Olympic tennis event but also winning the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Playing their second final of the season after finishing runner-up at the Brisbane International to eventual No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza, Makarova and Vesnina enjoyed a bright start to what became a stormy day in Dubai, racing through the opening set behind three breaks of serve.

“At the beginning of the match we felt really good rhythm. We felt we were kind of controlling the game, even knowing that they’re really good players.”

The first set and a half featured intermittent rain delays, but a heavier pattern set in at 3-3, sending the two teams off court for over an hour. Hlavackova and Peng emerged much stronger after the break – tapping into the form that helped them reach the Australian Open final – and twice broke serve to level the match.

“After these rain delays, it was too much of the rain delays, to be honest. I think everyone would lose their rhythm. Even Roger [Federer], I think, would lose his rhythm after this kind of on-and-off, on-and-off!

“And they came back to the game, you know. They had pretty good games on their serves. Then we were just a little bit tight. On one game after the rain delay, I think I didn’t hit one ball with the center of my racquet. I was just missing the volleys. I felt like I don’t see the ball. I need the glasses.”

A tense sudden death followed; even as the No.2 seeds forged ahead, the Czech/Chinese duo were never far behind, saving a pair of championship points before ultimately succumbing after two hours and 13 minutes.

The Russians played with imperious aggression throughout, hitting 27 winners – including a stunning lob from Vesnina to set up their slew of match points – to just 13 from the No.6 seeds, who were ultimately undone by their second serve, off which they won three of 22 points.

The title in Dubai is Makarova and Vesnina’s ninth as a pair, including two Grand Slam trophies at the French Open and US Open in 2013 and 2014.

“Well, it’s a good start, and we are playing good tennis in doubles, especially this tournament,” Makarova said. “Every match was pretty good doubles tennis, you know, and we were really enjoying how we play, and even it was a deciding tiebreak before. But we will play, of course, big tournaments and hope it will go well.”

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