Golovin's solid play moves her up WTA ladder

Semi win puts Tati in Top 15 for first time

FROM THE ZURICH OPEN - When Tatiana Golovin stormed through the rankings in her breakthrough year in 2004, moving up from No. 354 at the start of the season, all the way to No. 27, the fun-loving 16-year-old was rapidly becoming the new it-girl of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Now, three years later, she is on the verge of breaking the Top 15 for the first time in her career, a feat long overdue.

Golovin reached the finals of a Tier I event for the first time in her career. She beat Maria Kirilenko, Ivanovic and saw Marion Bartoli retire with a knee injury on Friday, before she convincingly routed Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals on Saturday. “It feels great [to reach my first Tier I final], but I don’t think I’m realising it quite yet. The past weeks have been going so fast and I’ve been playing so many matches. I’m trying to stay focused and not really think about it. When the season is over I’ll probably realise that I’m going to have a lot of points to defend next year.”

Golovin has developed into one of the best movers on tour, and her groundstrokes are solid. She likes to run around her backhand, to unleash her biggest weapon, the forehand. Her serve might not match the Williams sisters for pace, but it shouldn’t be underestimated, as she gets a lot of free points off it, especially going down the tee. The main obstacle holding her back has been her head, as she hasn’t been able to produce her best tennis yet in the big events, which is also why Tati had difficulties following up on her excellent breakthrough year.

“The first year you’re a rookie, you just go out there, nobody knows you and you think everything is great,” Golovin said. “But the next year you have to come back and defend everything, and the players start to know you and how they have to play against you, so it’s definitely tougher.”

It wasn’t until the beginning of this season, that Golovin won her first title. In Amelia Island, she consecutively beat Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova, to win the Tier II event. But to Golovin, winning her first tournament after having been expected to do so much earlier, did not make her achievement feel like a relief. “I think it was more of a relief to play three top players and beat them all in one week. Before, it was kind of that consistency that I was lacking. Being able to do that gave me more confidence, so I’m not sure it was a relief [to win my first tournament], but it definitely was a boost of confidence.”

Shortly after her maiden title, Golovin injured her right ankle and sat out the entire clay court season. She returned at Wimbledon, but couldn’t impress on the lawns, as she fell in the second round to Austrian up-and-comer Tamira Paszek. Her results over the American summer were disappointing as well, apart from a semi-final showing in Toronto, where she was beaten by Jelena Jankovic. At the US Open, the Frenchwoman was upset by Ahsha Rolle in the first round.

It was during the American hard court season that Golovin started working with Mats Wilander, a temporary agreement, which ended after the US Open in New York. “I think it was good,” Golovin says about the partnership, “but we didn’t really have enough time to work together. So I don’t think I can say too much about our time spent together because it was too short. It was supposed to be a month, but then I got injured and it got cut back to three weeks, and then I lost in the first round of the US Open, so it pretty much got cut down to two weeks.”

She hasn’t really spoken to Wilander anymore after the US Open, but believes they can team up again in the near future. “I know he cares about my tennis, I know he believes in me. When the time is right, I’m sure we’ll be able to get things together and maybe he’ll be able to come to some tournaments and we can practice together.”

Golovin entered a small Tier IV tournament in Slovenia the week after the season’s final Grand Slam event, where she captured the title and refound her confidence. She went on to reach the quarterfinals indoors in Luxembourg, and progressed to the final in Stuttgart, where she beat Anna Chakvetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova, before falling to Justine Henin in three sets.

“I’m really happy [with my season],” Golovin said. “Especially with the way it’s ending, because I started off really well and then I got injured and it was really hard mentally, and physically too, to get back up there and play the top players. I’m lucky I was able to get back to my level, because I also could have had just a really bad season after my injuries. I’ve worked really hard to get back and it’s paying off right now.”

STUTTGART ALL OVER AGAIN

Golovin’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be a familiar face, as she will take on Henin, just like in Stuttgart two weeks ago. The Belgian came from a set down in her semifinal against Nicole Vaidisova, and had to fight hard to advance 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. She looked a little shaky at times, especially on her forehand side. The No. 1 failed to capitulate on one of two match points, leading 5-3 in the third, and dropped her own serve in the next game. She broke again at 5-all, hitting a forehand winner after successfully attacking Vaidisova’s second serve, and successfully closed out the match trying to serve it out a second time.

Golovin believes the experience of playing Henin in Stuttgart two weeks ago, will help her in Sunday’s final. “I think it’s going to be pretty important, because I know how I played to beat her in the first set, and I know what I did to lose the next two sets.”

But when you’re playing the best player in the world, knowing what you have to do is hardly a guarantee for success. “I think everybody knows how to play her,” Golovin said, “but you still end up losing, because she’s so tough. It’s like she never feels bad. Doesn’t she have like these mornings when she just wakes up and feels awful? I mean, what’s wrong with her you, you know (laughs)? No matter how well you play against her, she still ends up winning.

Golovin believes one of the keys to beat Henin is staying composed. “I think [in Stuttgart] I showed my emotions just a little bit too much. She saw I was getting frustrated in the second set, and that just really pumped her up, and then I kind of got down on myself. I need to stay very positive. In the first set I was controlling the points and I’ll have to do that again tomorrow. You can’t give her anything, because then she’ll just take control and stay on top of you.”

Whether or not Golovin will win the tournament in Zurich, she will crack the Top 15 for the first time in her career when the new rankings come out on Monday. If she wins the event, she will be in an excellent spot to clinch a Top 10 position in Linz next week, as she has no points to defend. Does Tati believe she’s ready to become one of the elite women? “I think so. I think I’ve still got to put in a lot of work, and be consistent, because top players play well in every tournament. They don’t lose to players that are lower ranked than them in early rounds, so that’s just what I need to work on. To be a hundred percent every week and be able to beat the players that are behind me. Even during days when you’re not playing well you’ve still got to work, and not just say, ‘well, I’ll be better tomorrow’”.