Julia Görges

Personal life

Julia Görges was born in Bad Oldesloe to Klaus and Inge Görges, both of whom work in insurance. She has one elder maternal half-sister named Maike, who also works in insurance. She attended the Klaus-Groth-Schule and Theodor-Mommsen-Schule in Bad Oldesloe from 1995 to 2005, and completed the mittlere Reife (Realschulabschluss).

She began playing tennis around the age of 5 when she realised her parents would never stop talking about insurance, so she went to the local club. Her tennis idol growing up was Martina Hingis, and she is also a fan of Roger Federer. She was coached by Sascha Nensel, former coach of fellow German player Nicolas Kiefer until 2015. The surfaces she prefers are hard and grass courts, and her favorite tournament is the Australian Open.

2005–2008: Early career

In 2005 she began her career on the ITF Women's Circuit, playing in seven tournaments and losing in the first round in five of them. In 2006 and 2007 she continued to play mostly ITF Women's Circuit tournaments. In 2006 she won the Wahlstedt and Bielefeld tournaments. In 2007 she won tournaments in Antalya and Bucharest and made her first WTA Tour main draw appearances, the highlight of which was a semifinals achievement in Stockholm. There she lost to Vera Dushevina in three sets. Görges made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2007 US Open, losing to Justine Henin in the first round in straight sets. In 2008 Görges continued to play in a mix of ITF Women's Circuit and WTA Tour events. Her best performances were reaching the semifinals of the 2008 Banka Koper Slovenia Open, where she lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues, and a quarterfinal-loss to Olga Govortsova in the 2008 Cellular South Cup.

She made her top-100 debut in the rankings after the French Open. She won her first Grand Slam main draw match at Wimbledon, where she upset 23rd seed Katarina Srebotnik in a three-hour, 41-minute first-round match. However, she bowed out in the second round to Marina Erakovic in straight sets.

2009: Consistent top-100 ranking

In 2009, Görges began to play in WTA events more exclusively. It was the first season that she played in the main draw of all four Grand Slam events. She began her season at the 2009 Brisbane International, where she lost in qualifying to Anna-Lena Grönefeld.

Görges competed at the Australian Open, the Open GDF Suez, and the Warsaw Open, losing before the third round in each. She retired in the first round of the French Open in a match against Iveta Benešová due to heat exhaustion.

Görges reached the third round of the Aegon Classic, falling to Urszula Radwańska. She went on to play against Jelena Janković in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships, losing in straight sets. She lost prior to the third round at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, the İstanbul Cup, and the US Open (where she faced Svetlana Kuznetsova).

At the Bell Challenge, she managed to reach the semifinals, before losing to Lucie Šafářová. She was defeated by Raluca Olaru in the second round of the 2009 Generali Ladies Linz.

2010: First WTA title

Görges started the 2010 season at the ASB Classic, losing in the first round to Yanina Wickmayer. She went on to play at the Australian Open, where she beat Tamira Paszek, but then lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.

Görges reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 Internationaux de Strasbourg, losing to Maria Sharapova. Following a second round loss at the French Open and a first round loss at Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals of the 2010 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, losing to Flavia Pennetta.

At the 2010 Gastein Ladies, Görges won her first career WTA singles title by defeating Timea Bacsinszky in the final in straight sets. She made her top-50 debut in the rankings afterward. At the 2010 e-Boks Danish Open, she reached the quarterfinals, but was unable to take advantage of a 5–3 third-set lead over top seed Caroline Wozniacki, eventually falling in a tiebreak.

Görges defeated Romina Oprandi in the first round of the US Open, before falling to 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer in the second round. At the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, she scored her first win over a former No. 1 player by defeating Dinara Safina in the first round. In the second, she defeated fourth seed Samantha Stosur for her first win over a top-10 player. However, she was defeated by Coco Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals.

At the Generali Ladies Linz, she reached the quarterfinals, but fell to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic. In her final tournament of the season, the Luxembourg Open, she won a quarterfinal rematch with Ivanovic, defeating her in straight sets. She eventually reached her second career WTA final, losing to Roberta Vinci.

2011: Second career title, breakthrough into top-25

Beginning her season at the 2011 ASB Classic, Görges lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Gréta Arn. In the second round of the Australian Open, she upset No. 20 seed Kaia Kanepi. Her third round match against the 2008 Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova was a three-set battle, which Görges eventually lost. This marked her best performance in a Grand Slam to date, and she was rewarded by achieving a career-high No. 34 singles ranking on 31 January 2011.

On 5–6 February, she helped Germany defeat Slovenia in Fed Cup competition by clinching the tie with a straight-sets win over Maša Zec Peškirič, her first career win in Fed Cup competition. Switching to hard court, she then lost in the first round of Monterrey to Ksenia Pervak, and then continued to struggle at the BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson Open, losing in the second and first rounds respectively. At the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, however, she made a quarterfinal appearance on the green clay, losing to Elena Vesnina in three sets.

Heading to Stuttgart for Fed Cup, she won a rubber for Germany against Melanie Oudin, whom she lost to earlier in Miami. Staying in Stuttgart for the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she won her first Premier-level tournament and second WTA tournament overall, upsetting Samantha Stosur along the way and benefiting from a retirement by Victoria Azarenka. In the final, Görges scored the biggest win of her career by defeating world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in two sets, to become the first German to win Stuttgart since Anke Huber in 1994.

Less than two weeks after winning in Stuttgart, Görges defeated Wozniacki once again at the Madrid Open. She reached the semi-finals, where she lost to Azarenka.

Görges was the 17th seed at the 2011 French Open, but fell to 11th seed Marion Bartoli in the third round in three sets.

After a first round exit to Ana Ivanovic at the 2011 Aegon International, she reached the third round of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships where she fell to 24th seed Dominika Cibulková in three sets.

Several early round exits plagued Görges at Bad Gastein, Stanford, Carlsbad, Toronto, Cincinnati, and Dallas, not advancing past the second round of any of them. As the 24th seed at the US Open, she fell to 13th seed Peng Shuai in two close sets in the third round.

Taking part in the Asian part of the WTA tour, she fell in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Hansol Korea Open, the third round of the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open, and the first round of the China Open. She finished of her 2011 season with a semifinal loss to Victoria Azarenka at the 2011 BGL Luxembourg Open. She finished the year ranked 21st, accumulating a 38–25 singles record and a 22–18 doubles record.

2012: Top-20 ranking; consistent form

Seeded fifth at the 2012 ASB Classic, she defeated defending champion Gréta Arn, before falling to compatriot Angelique Kerber in straight sets. Görges experienced more success in doubles reaching the final with Flavia Pennetta before falling to the Czech duo of Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in a third-set super tiebreak. After retiring in the first round of the 2012 Apia International Sydney to Jelena Janković, she achieved her best Australian Open to date by reaching the fourth round. Görges defeated Polona Hercog, Eleni Daniilidou, and Romina Oprandi, before being dominated by eighth seed Agnieszka Radwańska. Playing in the Fed Cup for Germany, she lost to Petra Kvitová in an extremely tight three-setter. Partnering Anna-Lena Grönefeld, they lost to Iveta Benešová and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová as Germany lost to the Czech Republic 1–4.

Ranked 21st and seeded 6th, she reached the quarterfinals of the 2012 Open GDF Suez, falling to Klára Zakopalová in three sets. Görges then fell in the second round of Qatar to Varvara Lepchenko, before reaching the final of Dubai. She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, Casey Dellacqua, Daniela Hantuchová, before scoring a two-set win over third seed Caroline Wozniacki, before falling to Agnieszka Radwańska again. Due to her good result at the 2012 Dubai Tennis Championships, she achieved a career high ranking of 15.

Seeded 14th at the 2012 BNP Paribas Open, she advanced to the fourth round in straight sets, before becoming another victim of undefeated Victoria Azarenka. After receiving another bye into the second round, Görges was defeated by four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters.

At Roland Garros, Görges was seeded 25th. She reached the third round, beating Lucie Hradecká and Heather Watson along the way. She lost in the third round to Arantxa Rus, ending the match with two double faults. At the end of the third set Görges complained of lack of light, which was set aside by the head supervisor. After this she asked for a medical time-out and asked again to suspend the match, which again was denied by the umpire. In the women's doubles, she lost in the first round with partner Samantha Stosur.

She was the No. 1 seed in Bad Gastein but lost in three sets to the Dutch qualifier Richèl Hogenkamp. Hogenkamp, ranked 211 at the time, won her first WTA match. At the same tournament she won the doubles competition, partnering American Jill Craybas. In the final they defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Petra Martić.

At Wimbledon she lost in the third round to Ana Ivanovic, after defeating Shahar Pe'er and Anastasiya Yakimova in the first two rounds. In Palermo, Görges was defeated in quarterfinals by Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová. She reached the second round of the Swedish Open, losing to eventual champion Polona Hercog in straight sets. Polona Hercog went on to win the tournament.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Görges surprisingly defeated second seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the first round. She also defeated Varvara Lepchenko in round two, but in the third round lost to Maria Kirilenko in straight sets.

In August she lost in the first round at Montreal and she reached the second round in Cincinnati. At the US Open she lost in the first round to Kristýna Plíšková. In September she lost in the first round in Seoul. In Tokyo she defeated Monica Niculescu, but lost to Marion Bartoli in the second round.

Her first tournament in October was the China Open in Beijing. She defeated Vania King and the 8th seed Samantha Stosur. In the third round she lost to 9th seed Marion Bartoli for the second time in two months. She then played a fairly successful tournament in Linz, reaching the finals of both singles and doubles. In the singles final she lost to Victoria Azarenka, world No. 1 at the time. In doubles she played alongside Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and they were defeated by fellow German-Czech pair Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Květa Peschke in the final. In Luxembourg, Görges reached the second round, where she lost to Monica Niculescu, who went on to be defeated in the final by Venus Williams. She ended 2012 ranked inside the top-20 as world No. 18.

2013: Loss of form

In Auckland, as the second seed, Görges lost in the second round to Johanna Larsson. Together with Yaroslava Shvedova she reached the final in doubles, where they lost to Cara Black and Anastasia Rodionova. At the Apia International, Görges lost in the first round to qualifier Svetlana Kuznetsova. At the 2013 Australian Open, she lost in the fourth round to Li Na, after defeating Vera Dushevina, Romina Oprandi and Zheng Jie.

In the following two tournaments Görges lost in the first round. She was defeated by Kristina Mladenovic at the 2013 Open GDF Suez and by Sara Errani at the 2013 Dubai Tennis Championships. In February she also played for Germany in the Fed Cup match against France. She won both her matches, defeating Kristina Mladenovic and Pauline Parmentier.

In March she played in Indian Wells. As a seeded player, she received a bye in the first round and in the second round she defeated Sofia Arvidsson. She lost her third round match against 10th seed Nadia Petrova. In Miami she received a bye in the first round and lost in the second round to Croatian Ajla Tomljanović.

In April she played in Charleston. She defeated Yulia Putintseva and Olga Govortsova, but she lost in the third round to Stefanie Vögele. In Katowice, she retired during the first round match against qualifier Jill Craybas. In Stuttgart she defeated Kirsten Flipkens in the first round, but in the second round lost to fifth seed Petra Kvitová. In Oeiras she was defeated in the first round by 19-year-old Puerto Rican player Mónica Puig.

In Madrid she defeated Bojana Jovanovski in round one. But she could not start in the second round against Varvara Lepchenko due to an infection. In Rome, Görges won her first round match against Andrea Hlaváčková. She lost in the second round to the 3rd seed Victoria Azarenka. In Brussels she reached second round after defeating Coco Vandeweghe, but she retired in her second round match against Romina Oprandi due to a right wrist injury.

At the 2013 French Open she surprisingly lost in the first round to Zuzana Kučová. She reached the second round in Nuremberg, losing to Andrea Petkovic. This result was followed by series of first round loses: against Mariana Duque at Wimbledon, against Olga Govortsova in Stanford, against Sesil Karatantcheva in Carlsbad, against Roberta Vinci in Toronto and against Magdaléna Rybáriková in Cincinnati.

She was more successful in doubles during this part of season. Alongside Darija Jurak, she reached the final in Stanford, where they lost to American pair Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears. In Cincinnati she paired with Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and they lost in the semifinals to the other Czech-German pairing of Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Květa Peschke. In New Haven, Görges won her first round match against Bojana Jovanovski, but lost in the second round to 6th seed Sloane Stephens. At the 2013 US Open she lost to 21-year-old American Christina McHale in the first round.

Görges then participated in Seoul where she was the 6th seed. She defeated Misaki Doi before losing to Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round. She lost her openers in her final three tournaments of 2013; against Sorana Cîrstea in Tokyo, against Kaia Kanepi in Beijing and against qualifier Camila Giorgi in Linz. She ended the year outside the top-50 at world No. 73.

2014: Out of top-100, downfall

To start the year, Görges played the 2014 ASB Classic, making it to the second round before losing to Sachie Ishizu in three sets. In Sydney, Görges retired in the final round of qualifying but was awarded a lucky loser spot in the main draw, where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki. At the 2014 Australian Open, Görges upset the 7th seed Sara Errani in the first round, but lost to Lauren Davis in round two. In Pattaya, Görges reached the semifinals, losing to Karolína Plíšková. Having fallen out of the top-100 for one week, her success in Pattaya moved her back to world No. 88.

The following week, Görges competed in Acapulco where she defeated Mexican wildcard Marcela Zacarías in the first round before losing to Kaia Kanepi in three sets. She reached the second round at Indian Wells, where she lost to Maria Sharapova. She did not qualify for the 2014 Sony Open Tennis and lost to Virginie Razzano in the first round at the Family Circle Cup. In Stuttgart, she defeated Sorana Cîrstea before falling to Ana Ivanovic in three sets. Then, she qualified for the Mutua Madrid Open, but lost her opener to 4th seed Simona Halep. She did not qualify for Rome but managed to reach the quarterfinals at Strasbourg the week before the French Open. She defeated top seed Sloane Stephens and Lauren Davis, but lost to Madison Keys.

At the French Open, Görges lost in the second round to the uprising Eugenie Bouchard of Canada in three sets. Partnering Anna-Lena Grönefeld in doubles, they lost in the first round to the unseeded pair Dominika Cibulková and Kirsten Flipkens. However, in the mixed doubles partnering Nenad Zimonjić, Görges had a more successful run, reaching her first Grand Slam final. The German-Serbian pair lost to the unseeded Grönefeld and Jean-Julien Rojer in three sets.

At Wimbledon, Görges lost in the first round to eventual semifinalist Lucie Šafářová in two tiebreaks. In the doubles event, she partnered fellow German Anna-Lena Grönefeld. The pair fell in the quarterfinals to Andrea Petkovic and Magdaléna Rybáriková. Görges did not participate in mixed doubles. The following week, she competed at the Gastein Ladies where she lost to Stefanie Vögele in the first round. At the 2014 Swedish Open, Görges defeated 7th seed María Teresa Torró Flor in the first round to book a second round clash with another Spaniard Sílvia Soler Espinosa, losing in three sets. In doubles, Görges was the top seed alongside Katarzyna Piter, but they could only make the quarterfinals, losing to the British pairing of Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith.

At the US Open in New York, Görges fought a spirited first round match against 11th-seeded Flavia Pennetta, losing in a three-setter. She then competed at the 2014 Coupe Banque Nationale in Quebec City where she was seeded 5th. She reached the quarterfinals after defeating Stéphanie Dubois and Melanie Oudin. She then defeated Andrea Hlaváčková to face Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in the last four, but lost to the eventual tournament champion. Partnering Hlaváčková in doubles, she made it to the final, but lost in straight sets to Lucie Hradecká and Lučić-Baroni.

2015: Regaining form

Görges reached the quarterfinals in Auckland, where she lost to top seed Caroline Wozniacki. At the Australian Open she defeated Bencic, Koukalová and Hradecká, before losing in the fourth round to Ekaterina Makarova. She was also successful in doubles, where together with Anna-Lena Grönefeld, they reached the semifinals.

Görges played doubles alongside Sabine Lisicki in Fed Cup match against Australia. They won this match. However, it was already a dead rubber, as Germany was leading 3–1 before doubles. In March, Görges reached the quarterfinals in Kuala Lumpur where she lost to Alexandra Dulgheru in straight sets. In April, Görges played for Germany in Fed Cup semifinals against Russia. She lost her singles match against Svetlana Kuznetsova and Germany lost to Russia 2–3.

At the French Open, Görges battled past Coco Vandeweghe in three sets in the first round, before scoring an upset of the 5th seed Wozniacki in the second round in straight sets. She defeated Irina Falconi before losing to Sara Errani in round four. In doubles she played alongside Barbora Krejčíková. They lost in the first round to Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.

2016

Görges started the new season by reaching the final in Auckland, where she lost to Sloane Stephens. At the Australian Open, Görges defeated Andreea Mitu before losing in straight sets to 9th seed Karolína Plíšková. In doubles she played alongside Karolína Plíšková. They reached semifinals, where they lost to the top seed and eventual winners Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.

Görges received a wild card in Dubai. She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, losing only a single game in this match. In the second round she lost to Barbora Strýcová. In doubles she partnered Tímea Babos. They lost to the French pair Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the semifinals. In Doha Görges faced again Kuznetsova in the first round, but this time she lost. Together with Babos she reached quarterfinals in doubles, where they lost to the eventual winners Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan.

In Indian Wells, Görges lost in the first round to Camila Giorgi. In doubles she played alongside Karolína Plíšková. They lost in the final to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Coco Vandeweghe.