Tennis News

LUXEMBOURG – Top seed Petra Kvitova overcame a slow start to defeat Varvara Lepchenko and take her place in the quarterfinals of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open.

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The closing stretch of the 2016 season has seen Kvitova make a welcome return to form, and once into her stride against Lepchenko there was no stopping her, running out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 winner in just under two hours.

Lepchenko held her own early on, breaking decisively in the penultimate game of the opening set. The expected Kvitova onslaught finally materialized at the start of the second set, and despite surviving a couple of fraught service games, Lepchenko was merely delaying the inevitable.

Once the Czech did finally hit the front, there was no looking back, winning 10 of the last 11 games to saunter across the finishing line.

A comeback win for @Petra_Kvitova over Lepchenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to @Iwtp_lux QF. pic.twitter.com/oLzJCGbWmD

— WTA (@WTA) October 19, 2016

“I probably didn’t play as well as I would want in the first set. But she started very strong and didn’t give me time to do anything, so I was under pressure a little bit,” Kvitova said afterwards to the press.

“In the second set I had to change the game a little bit and when I made the first break in the sixth game I was feeling a little better, more confident and I was just trying to keep going and not have so many unforced errors.”

Elsewhere, an under the weather Caroline Wozniacki dug deep to see off Sabine Lisicki, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Wozniacki, the No.2 seed this week, was suffering from a gastrointestinal illness, but overcame a slow start and a late wobble to triumph.

“I felt nausea during my match. I just feel pretty tired probably from coming from Hong Kong. I played pretty well today but maybe my movement wasn’t quite there. I just hope I feel better for tomorrow,” Wozniacki said to wtatennis.com.

Also among the second-round winners were No.3 seed Kiki Bertens, who brushed aside Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 6-3, 6-1, while Andrea Petkovic upset No.4 seed Caroline Garcia, 6-1, 6-1.

Simplicity suits Sloane Stephens. The 23-year-old American is up to No.21 in the world after capturing her third title of the season and the biggest one of her career this weekend at the Volvo Car Open. Her run to the title, which included wins over Angelique Kerber (by retirement), Daria Kasatkina, and Daria Gavrilova, was her first at a Premier level event. But the milestone seemed inevitable given Stephens’ recent turnaround. Since snapping an 0-6 record in semifinals last year, Stephens is now 4-0 in finals.

If you ask Stephens for an explanation for the turnaround, you’ll get no precise answer. The change and improvements in her game have been gradual and are clearly tied to confidence. She won her first title last year at the Citi Open under then-coach Nick Saviano. After teaming up with Kamau Murray in the off-season, Stephens has improved in her focus, fight, and execution. When she was behind the eight-ball in Charleston, such as being down match point to Kasatkina in the quarterfinals, Stephens didn’t shirk. She played bolder and more confidently, and pulled the match back on her terms. She did the same in the final, where she nearly let a 5-2 lead slip away in the first set before running away with the tiebreaker to win 7-6(4), 6-2 over Elena Vesnina.

WTA Insider spoke to Stephens via phone after her big win in Charleston.

WTA Insider: Now that the first quarter of the season is over and we’re about transition to red clay, can you look back and assess your first three-four months? You must be happy with how well you’ve started the year.
Stephens: Yeah definitely. Obviously with three titles it’s been good. Going into the clay court season I’m looking forward to it because I love clay. Yeah, it’s been a good start to the year, good start to the clay court season, so I’m excited to get over to Europe.

WTA Insider: What’s the difference between how you’re playing right now as opposed to a year ago?
Stephens: I’m playing better, just competing and fighting and enjoying being out on the court. It’s definitely a long journey. Just taking it step by step, day by day, but learning a lot of about myself and my game, just looking to improve on court which has been the most important.

WTA Insider: When you say you’ve learned a lot about yourself and your game, can you be more specific? What have you learned?
Stephens: Just general things. What I like to do on the court, what makes me comfortable, what works for me basically. I’ve found a way to make things happen for myself and I think that’s the most important.

WTA Insider: Have any of the things you’ve learned about yourself surprised you?
Stephens: Not really. Just a matter of execution and knowing what you have to do on the court. I think at some times there were question marks in my head about what I wanted to do and just to be able to execute and focus on what I need to do is the probably the best thing.

WTA Insider: When I watch you play I’m sometimes reminded of Svetlana Kuznetsova, insofar as you’re both incredible athletes who have the ability to play different gamestyles and hit a variety of shots. Sometimes that variety can make the game complicated. You have so many options that a player can be paralyzed when it comes to decision-making. Does any of that ring true to you?
Stephens: I don’t know, I can hit a lot of shots and adjust well to other players game styles. So I guess…yeah? But being able to hit a lot of different shots and be able to adjust to how my opponents play has been a strong aspect of my game.

In the moment I don’t think you’re thinking about do I hit this shot or that shot. You do what’s natural. You don’t overthink it.

WTA Insider: What is working so well with Kamau Murray?
Stephens: We work well together. He’s a good coach. I’ve had good results. I mean anything that a good coach should have, good chemistry, things are going well, I’m winning tournaments. I couldn’t ask for much more.

WTA Insider: Is he saying things that other coaches have always told you, just in a voice and manner that strikes a chord in you? Or is he bringing something new and different to your game?
Stephens: No, I just think we have good chemistry, we work well together. At this point when I’m No.25 in the world there’s not much in my game that he could change that would make me a different player. There are things that when you click better with a certain coach or understand a different coach better, there are things that work better with certain people. And I think we have a good chemistry so, I don’t know, we make things happen.

WTA Insider: What aspect of your season are you most proud about?
Stephens: Just competing. Just being able to stay in the moment on the court and in the matches. All three of my finals have been tough this year. So it’s been nice to be able to edge those out and stay focused on court. I think that’s been really good.

WTA Insider: You’re not playing Fed Cup and you’re not in action until the Madrid Open. Can you talk through your mindset in how you put together your clay schedule? Why skip Stuttgart?
Stephens: I’ve just always played that schedule. I like Madrid, I like Rome, I like red clay. So it’s easy. I think being an American playing Indian Wells and Miami is tough because there’s a lot going on. So I think for me, Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, it’s been a lot. So it’ll be nice to take a break and then go back to Europe because we’re going to be there for a month, maybe longer. I think it’s just planning so as to not overwork yourself before you get to clay season.

WTA Insider: So I understand you’re headed straight home to LA tonight. What are you looking forward to the most about LA?
Stephens: My bed. Definitely.

—–

It was an emotionally challenging week for Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia but it was one that ended in smiles rather than tears. The French duo picked up their first title as a team by beating the streaking Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova 6-2 7-5. After making two finals already this season, it was the perfect result for the pair, who will undoubtedly feature prominently in France’s bid to win the Fed Cup as well as their desire to medal at the Olympics.

WTA Insider caught up with Garcia and Mladenovic after their big win.

WTA Insider: You paired up this year and already made two finals. Now you finally get the title. What does it mean to you?
Mladenovic: It definitely means a lot. Third time’s the charm. We’re both so excited, proud, and relieved we got this one under our belt and the first team trophy for us.

Garcia: We both lost 7-6 in the third in singles. You know that for me it’s been a difficult beginning of the week. [Note: Garcia was the subject of unfounded allegations by the media in her match against Irina Camelia Begu. The WTA conducted a full investigation and found no evidence of misconduct.] A lot of things have been hurting me personally and very deep. I was taking a lot of pleasure in doubles and making me think of something else. Also it made me learn things outside of the court and it helped me play better inside the court.

WTA Insider: You’re both primarily singles players. How do you balance the two disciplines? In Charleston you both lost early in singles.
Mladenovic: It’s not an easy balance. Honestly, doubles is the best practice I can have for my singles. For example, now this is the first week on clay, we can get a lot of matches under our belt. I’m also this week working on a few things in my game. Just to be able to have an opportunity to work on these things on court and competing — an official doubles match can replace practices.

To get trophies and titles like this is very meaningful. It definitely helps my singles game. I feel like today I’m a lot more confident and it for sure helps for the singles game. You just try and push yourself. ‘Ok, I lost in singles but I’m going to try and do great in doubles and to work on things.’

WTA Insider: Does playing doubles make you a better pressure player?
Mladnenovic: Yeah, definitely. I remember for example, I was privileged to win mixed doubles titles with Daniel Nestor in Wimbledon and the Australian Open, and also I remember in the juniors when I won the French Open. All those experiences, with big pressure, big moments, history, all of these little details, this pressure, you practice to feel it so you believe it will be routine.

When I go out there, I have so many examples of matches at home, all these matches — maybe that’s why I’m doing well so far at the French Open — when I get on the big courts I have this feeling inside of me — I’ve been there before, it’s familiar to me. So I know how to handle the nerves and pressure. When you play tennis you want to be a champion. You’re looking every day for this pressure. It’s a feeling I personally live for because I know in the normal life I know i would never find this adrenaline.

Garcia: Maybe it helps you a little bit to manage the stress at the important points. But it’s also different. You are not alone on court, you can talk to the other one, and the other one can talk to you, to encourage you to stay positive. Of course you have to take care of yourself on court.

WTA Insider: Was the motivation any different for you two in Charleston? You had a big Fed Cup tie coming up, plus you lost early in the tournament. Was it difficult to stay committed?
Mladenovic: Before the tournament our Fed Cup Captain Amelie Mauresmo was not really 100% for us playing here because she wanted us to be back in Europe early for the jet lag and everything for the Fed Cup semifinals next week. We decided to play because we needed it for the confidence. We have common goals and when we play we play 100%.

Garcia: We always thought our goal was to win the title but we just take it match by match. But we didn’t care about next week. We were just enjoying our time in Charleston. It’s a great tournament, there are a lot of people who come to watch you. You can’t just pull out and say it doesn’t matter. that is not the point of view of Kristina and I and our teams. So when we enter, we play until the end.

It’s such a good feeling to finish the week like this. That’s the beauty of it. At the end of the week we are the doubles champions of a great event. It’s a lot of confidence and I’m sure it will help us do great next week. That’s the feeling we’re having now. We’re excited to fly and join the rest of the team to try and make the final.

All photos courtesy of Volvo Car Open.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari notched the biggest win of her career in the first round of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, knocking out the No.1 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets for her first ever Top 50 win.

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No.34-ranked Schmiedlova, who was playing as the top seed at a WTA event for the first time, was looking to reverse a disappointing run of form that has seen her win just one WTA match in 2016.

Meanwhile, the on-the-rise Sakkari has been knocking on the door all year, coming within a few points of a breakthrough twice previously. At the Australian Open, she made it through qualifying to reach the second round in her first appearance at the event, where she pushed the No.10 seed Carla Suárez Navarro to three sets. At the San Antonio 125K event she struck again, coming within two points of knocking out top-seeded Daria Gavrilova.

In the red clay of Istanbul’s Garanti Koza Arena, it seemed like Sakkari would be made to wait again; Schmiedlova quickly broke Sakkari’s serve in the first game, then consolidated comfortably for a 2-0 lead.

But instead of shrinking away, the 20-year-old qualifier turned up the pressure, varied the pace of her heavy groundstrokes and rattled off six straight games to take the set and leave the top seed reeling. Schmiedlova managed to get on board in the second set, but it wasn’t enough as Sakkari continued to attack the Slovak’s vulnerable second serve – she didn’t win any second serve points in the first set and only three all match long. Sakkari closed the match winning 6-2, 6-3.

“It´s the best win of my career. I am so happy,” Sakkari said after the match. “I like playing in Turkey. It feels like home here, people make me feel very welcome. I’m looking forward to my next match and hope to continue to play well.”

Sakkari will go on to play Hsieh Su-Wei in the next round. The Taiwanese player defeated Karin Knapp, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-1.

No.8 seed Johanna Larsson also advanced to the second round after a stern challenge from Ukrainian qualifier Maryna Zanevska, who took her to within one point of defeat, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5). Zanevska held two match points while serving at 6-5 in the third set, but Larsson broke her to send the match into a tiebreaker, emerging victorious after a tense two hours and forty minutes.

Local favorite Cagla Buyukakcay cruised against Russian qualifier Marina Melnikova, winning 6-3, 6-3 in her opening match. She commemorated the win by delighting the crowd with a quick post-match hitting session, signing dozens of autographs and, of course, taking several selfies.

Irina Falconi did not know what to expect when she arrived in Bogota, Colombia for the Claro Open. Ranked No.92, the former Georgia Tech standout had lost seven of her last eight matches and she was about to play in tricky conditions on her least favorite surface, clay.

Then after advancing to the semifinals without dropping a set, the Ecuadorian-born American woke up on Saturday to the news that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake had torn through Portoviejo, Ecuador, the very city in which she was born. Somehow she was able to focus on the tournament and beat two clay-court stalwarts in Lara Arruabarrena and Sílvia Soler Espinosa to win her first 1st career title and boosted her ranking back up to No.67.

After the match, Falconi dedicated the win to the victims and survivors in Ecuador, but she’s vowed to do more.

WTA Insider spoke to Falconi on Monday. No surprise here: It’s been a difficult few days for the Falconi family.

Insider: How surprised are you that your first WTA title was on clay?
Falconi: Yeah, I’m pretty surprised. It’s funny because when people ask me what my favorite surface is I always say grass, and then hard court. To be the first American to win this tournament is pretty exciting.

I knew that coming in I had points to defend, which is a weekly struggle. I knew it was going to be tough with the altitude. There were going to be some challenges going there. It was more emotional. I wouldn’t say it was surprising because I know I put in the work to succeed on the court. But I would say it was just emotional.

Insider: At what point during the week did you think “Hey, I’m playing well. I could win this?”
Falconi: I think I thought that maybe at the first Championship Point. I knew that Lara Arruabarrena in the semis was going to be tough. I know Catalina Pella was going to be tough in the quarterfinals. She had just beaten the defending champion. I knew she was playing well. Then Sherazad Reix was going to be tough. She gets a lot of balls back and she can be tough being a lefty. And in the first round, as a 15 year-old you can come out and just swing away. My whole mentality the entire week was every single point. Be present at every single point. That really helped me.

I still couldn’t believe it after I won. It took three match points. There are still moments when I’ll be – like today I was walking through the airport, and I’m like ‘Oh wow, that’s really cool that happened.’

Insider: How different are the conditions in Bogota? You have the altitude but it’s also clay. It must be a very unique court.
Falconi: After 11 days being on it I can probably play on it now (laughs). I hit a drop shot the first day that ended up being a lob. That gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with. A kick serve can go over your head. You try and lob someone and it could end up in the stands. But both players have to deal with it.

Insider: I’m always curious about how players put together their schedules. Why did you choose to play Bogota?
Falconi: I won two matches there last year. I lost to Elina Svitolina in a really tough match. I knew I could play on the surface and in the conditions.

Honestly, I had a pretty crappy couple of weeks before that. I think I maybe won just one match in five weeks. So I thought, ‘Ok, let’s try and get some matches and get some momentum going.’

Insider: Tennis players lose pretty much every week. How do you stay positive when you’re stuck in a rut and your form isn’t delivering the results you’re after?
Falconi: At the end of the day you’re a week away. You’re a week away from getting your mojo back, cracking the Top 100, getting into a main draw at a Slam. You’re one good week away from hitting your career high. My coach and I always say, you need five good weeks out of the whole year to be Top 100. Five good weeks. Then you have a few ok weeks, and then you have 10 bad weeks, and you can be Top 100 in the world.

Above all you have to have that mentality that it does take a few matches until you can find your rhythm. You never know what could happen. If you would have told me a few weeks ago that this would happen, that I would win this, I would have been like “Right, sure, have you seen my record this year?”

Insider: Are you the type of person who finds it easy to stay positive? Or do you skew negative?
Falconi: It can get extremely tough if you allow it to. If you ask anyone I try to stay super positive. I’ve dealt with friends, players, co-workers I guess who are in the same boat as me, they’re toxic sometimes because they’re so negative.

It’s just a matter of instilling in your own mindset and other people’s mindset that I understand what you’re going through but you have to see it in a positive. Obviously it’s hard to stay positive after losing four first rounds in a row. But at the end of the day if you just continue chipping away and you know what you’re doing is good, it all pays off in the end.

Insider: You were born in Portoviejo, Ecuador, which was one of the most heavily affected cities in the earthquake. You still have a lot of family there. I believe after the match that your father was actually in Ecuador when the earthquake hit on Saturday?
Falconi: He actually happened to leave just the day before it happened. A good chunk of my family is still there. A lot has been affected by everything but thankfully there have been no casualties. The house I was born in that I happened to see for the first time last year, is gone. It’s been really bittersweet because at the end of the day, ‘Oh yay you won a tournament,’ but people are dying.

It’s really tough because people are asking me what message I have for the people there and…what can I possibly say to them? Obviously I’m sending so many prayers and my team and I are looking to see how we can donate and help the victims and families over there. At the end of the day all you can do is continue praying and hope everyone is ok.

I understand there are a lot of people who have lost loved ones. It’s been really tough, to be honest. I spoke with a few family members and they can’t stop crying. How am I going to be gloating [about a title] around that?

I won a title but believe it or not I’ve been really low key about it. One of my friends Shelby Rogers asked me how things are going over there. It puts everything in perspective. Oh you won a WTA tournament. Then you talk to someone and they just lost their home where they’ve grown up all their life. It’s just been bittersweet to say the least. There’s been a lot of angst and, to be honest, there’s no right way how to act.

Insider: How did you find out about the earthquake and how hard was it to focus on tennis?
Falconi: I got the news the morning of the semifinal match on Saturday. We have a Whatsapp group with over 100 family members and we started getting a bunch of messages and I didn’t know what to think at first. I was trying to focus on the match. But my mom couldn’t get a hold of my dad. It was really scary. There’s no wi-fi, there’s no light, there’s no water. And it just happened to be my birthplace, my hometown, where I grew up for three years, that was the most affected.

Insider: You said you’re working through some ideas on how to help the victims and survivors in Ecuador. Do you have a sense of what you want to do yet?
Falconi: I’m still working through it with my family and my team. I’d just ask people to keep tabs on me and I’ll announce what I plan to do donation-wise and how people can help.

Follow Irina on Twitter @IrinaFalconi.

Editor’s Note: Falconi has created a donation page to raise money for the Ecuador Earthquake relief effort, and shared the following details on her Twitter account:

Hey guys, as you know I’m raising money to be donated for Ecuador Earthquake relief…

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

The goal is $5,000 but I'm willing to match the total donation number, up to $5,000!…

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

Also, the highest single donation will receive the shoes and racquet that I used to win the WTA title in Bogota…

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

THIS IS THE LINK TO DONATE MONEY FOR ECUADOR EARTHQUAKE RELIEF! https://t.co/aiDFjjOoVP
Please share and know that every bit helps <3

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

 – All photos courtesy of Claro Open Colsanitas

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.”

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.

“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.

“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.