INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – They say a change is as good as a rest and the proverb certainly seems to ring true for Julia Goerges. The 28-year-old is enjoying one of her most successful starts to a season and is continuing to thrive under her coaching team of Michael Geserer and Florian Zitzelsberger, who came on board in the last year.
“I said I wanted to have a change and really get the best out of me in my last years of my career,” she said. “Hopefully I will play for many more years and I just wanted to get a different input and a different voice to hear but also working in a different way with a lot of different philosophies. I’m very happy with the way they are helping me and the way we are working together.”
Goerges, who reached a career high ranking of No.15 in March 2012, suffered a loss of form in 2013 and 2014 and although her results started to improve in 2015 she decided a split with Sascha Nensel, her coach of eight years, was necessary.
“Changing coaches gave me a different view on my job as well, to see things a bit differently,” continued Goerges. “For me as a human being I changed a lot, I’m much more positive in my personal life and this helps me on court. You see it from a different perspective which makes a tough situation sometimes easier because you appreciate what you have in the moment. It’s about being healthy and happy, at the end of the day it’s just a tennis match.”
As well as reaching the third round at Indian Wells, Goerges has recorded semifinal finishes at both Auckland and Budapest in 2017. Her run to the final four in Auckland included a win over world No.19 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.
“I always do well in Auckland, I love the place,” said Goerges, who was a finalist there in 2016. “I love the Australian and New Zealand swing in general, the people are so nice and I just feel at home there, even though it’s so far away. There are a lot of Germans and the culture is pretty similar to Germany.”
Later that month Goerges defeated Katerina Siniakova in the first round of the Australian Open before losing to Jelena Jankovic. She was forced to retire during her opening Fed Cup match against CoCo Vandeweghe in Hawaii following a fall where she injured her left knee and also retired in the second round at Acapulco with heat illness.
“I did quite a trip from Budapest to Acapulco and arrived for the first round match six hours before. I still won it but the next day I got hit by my body,” said Goerges.
Goerges has also made the decision to substantially reduce the amount of doubles she plays in 2017. The German enjoyed considerable success on the doubles circuit in 2016, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon and qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global with Karolina Pliskova.
“Kaja [Karolina Pliskova] and me we decided to focus on singles,” explained Goerges. “We did very well last year but it was a lot of matches for both of us, she did even more in singles, so for me I said ‘ok I want to focus on singles as well’, so just playing a few [doubles] events, but a very few.”
Goerges seems happy and content and is evidently pleased with the way her tennis is progressing under Geserer and Zitzelsberger.
“It’s not about a win or a loss it’s about how you develop as a player and that is what I’m feeling is going well,” concluded Goerges. “Things are getting better and better and really coming together like a puzzle.”
