Following an impressive closure of the 2017 season and just as great start to the new year, Julia Goerges‘ results today materialized into a Top 10 WTA ranking debut, so with Angelique Kerber occupying the ninth position, we’re having two Germans among the elite ten for the first time since September 1997.
E
ven though she told WTA Insider that obsessing about the rankings is not her thing and that it’s just a new number in front of her name, Jule celebrated the achievement on Twitter by saying:
February 5th, 2018: A very special day for me. I am in the Top 10 for the very first time in my career. I am extremely proud of my team who are doing such an amazing job with me and standing by my side in every situation.
We will keep working hard, but more importantly, we keep enjoying what we do. Thanks a lot to all of you for the great support.
Yours Jule
Competing at last week’s St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on what was then her career-high ranking of No.12 (last year in the same period she was ranked No.57!), semifinalist Goerges cracked the prestigious ten-member group by virtue of Kristina Mladenovic failing to defend her title, losing in the final to Petra Kvitova, the winningest active player on indoor hardcourts.
After finishing the previous season with champion’s trophies at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow and the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, Goerges kicked off 2018 at the ASB Classic in Auckland by winning her third straight title with a triumph over current world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the final.
Goerges entered the St. Petersburg tournament as a WTA ace leader in 2018, with 61 aces served in 7 matches, while she further solidified that position in Russia, most notably by hitting as many as 10 aces to 0 double faults in her second-round victory over Roberta Vinci (last year only three players served 10 or more aces to no double faults in a single match!).
The 29-year-old is the 125th WTA player who can pride herself by reaching the Top 10 since the computer rankings were introduced in 1975 and she’s the fourth oldest player to make her Top 10 debut, following Roberta Vinci, Betty Stove and Francesca Schiavone.
