Astonishing Golovin
14 February 2004 - Thibaut FRAIX-BURNET
Tatiana Golovin still surprises us. Playing an astonishing high-level tennis
at only 16, she often dominated the rallies against world n°10, Elena
Dementieva and won in two sets 6-4, 6-4).
Two snapshots to understand the golovin phenomenon.
At 3-3 and 15-0 for her in the first set, the young French player succeeded
in playing a low volley softly. 30-0. In the next point, she made Dementieva
visit the centre court before concluding a wonderful acceleration with a
backhand along the line. 40-0. To finish the game, Tatiana hit a first serve
that was so fast that the Russian player could hardly touch it.
Second revealing snapshot. After the win of the first set (6-4), Golovin
could see Dementieva fighting to face the blond hurricane. The Russian
player, who has just changed her serve gesture, seemed to be lost with
her racket in her hand. Her second serve is quite an handicap for her and
she made too many unforced errors. At 4-4, 30-30 on Golovin’s serve, world
no. 10 is still a serious threat for the French player who went out of the
court, suffering from early cramps.
However, Tatiana did not panic and can wonderfully manage pressure. She went
forward and hit her balls as soon as possible, concluding a point by going up
to the net and smashing.40-30. The win of her serve 5-4 gave her the
opportunity to make world n°2 collapse and to win the match.
Those two final moments reveal quite well the quality of the French player’s
game and also her good mental conditions, which are two main strong points to
reach the highest level. The qualification for the semi-finals of the world
no.135, the lowest ranking of all the committed players, was not really
expected at the beginning of the week. Nevertheless, when you see her game
quality, her presence at that level is well deserved even though she took
advantage of Daniela Hantuchova’s walkover. She will meet Mary Pierce in
the semi-finals for a very promising match.
http://www.opengazdefrance.com/en/open2004/accueil/story_129559.shtml
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"I saw a lot of my family, I took a holiday, I went to Amsterdam to see my
brother, I did all the things I don't have time to do when I am playing
tennis," Escude talked about what he did during his 6-month absence.
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