These days Tatiana Golovin’s tennis career is threatened by her chronic back pain so, just in case, we’re hurrying up to add her childhood photos to our series of pictures of women’s tennis players when they were little.

The 20-year-old Tatiana hasn’t changed much, actually. OK, these two photos don’t seem to be too old anyway; they are apparently not from her early childhood. Have you maybe seen more young pics of the former world No.12 and two-time WTA singles titlist? (photos via Tennis Forum)

According to this French article, the continuation of Tatiana Golovin’s tennis career is seriously under question. Apparently, the 20-year-old has some blood disease which causes the chronic pain in her back.

What a disappointment. Golovin won her first WTA titles (Amelia Island and Portoroz) in 2007, and the following year we’re already discussing her retirement. Oh, too bad.

Another sad fact is that in February the French tennis player was ranked 12th, but has slipped to No. 249 by the end of the 2008 season.

Golovin played her possibly last competitive tennis match in the first round of Berlin back in May, when she fell to Dane Caroline Wozniacki.

We'll keep you updated on this story. (photo: golovin-tatiana.com)

I didn’t know Tatiana Golovin smoked!

Considering the current state of her tennis career, no wonder she resorted to vices. Let’s just mention that the 20-year-old Golovin started the 2008 season ranked 13th, and now she’s ranked 249th.

Or maybe the French tennis player started smoking because of her turbulent love life? Who knows. Read more »

Tatiana Golovin of France will need to skip the 2008 US Open and I suppose the reason is the same back injury which forced her out of the Beijing Olympics.

It's hard to keep track of all the tournaments Golovin had to miss this year. The 20-year old will finish the 2008 season having played only one Grand Slam, the Australian Open. In addition, the other tournaments she has played so far include only: Sydney in January (reached the second round), Memphis in February (fell in the first round), $100K ITF/Cagnes-sur-Mer-FRA (was top-seeded and lost in the second round) and Berlin (lost in the first round) in May. And that’s all! It was quicker for me to name the tournaments she played than the ones she skipped.

On February 4th she reached career high of No.12, and now she's ranked 35th.

Golovin is expected to play at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, which starts September 29th. (photo: golovin-tatiana.com)

Shortly before the scheduled start of the tennis event at the 2008 Olympics French world No.28 Tatiana Golovin pulled out of singles and doubles.

The 20-year-old, who played only nine matches this season, was forced to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics because of a back injury.

Golovin was to play doubles with Pauline Parmentier. In singles, she will be replaced by Maret Ani of Estonia. (source: CBS Sports, photo: Getty Images)