Australian Open: Julia Görges does her thing - and praises herself
On the first day of the tournament at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Julia Görges quickly reaches the second round. Angelique Kerber joins the tournament on Tuesday.
by SID
last edit: Jan 20, 2020, 01:58 pm
It was obvious that Julia Görges was very happy with herself and the world. It only took her 56 minutes to move on to the second round at the Australian Open in Melbourne - and she was also able to praise herself with a clear conscience. "It was a very concentrated, solid performance," said Görges after the 6: 1, 6: 2 against the Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova, "I played very aggressively and did my thing."
Görges is committed to a fresh start after a mixed year. Already in the fall of last year, after three very successful years, she had separated from her trainer and manager Michael Geserer, and also from fitness coach Florian Zitzelsberger, who was also her private companion. Now she is being coached by Jens Gerlach, who has got him off the German Fed Cup team.
Görges and Gerlach have decided that they implement more "game ideas", as she calls them. In the less than hour against the 60th place in the world rankings Kuzmova looked convincing. "I would not say it was a perfect match, there were also close games," said the 38th in the ranking, but: "I pulled her tooth from the start, played aggressively, served well."
"Would like to take the scepter in hand"
Görges was so fast that she escaped the constant rain that set in later. In a short span of time, she also hit nine aces, making $ 900 for the victims of the bushfires in Australia. "It's about the gesture," she said - but a little more money should come together: On Wednesday, Görges will play against Petra Martic from Croatia, number 13 in Melbourne. "I would like to take the scepter in hand. I want to do that on Wednesday, too," she said.
Angelique Kerber will contest her opening match in Melbourne in the night session on Tuesday, her opponent is qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto from Italy. Before the rain started pouring over the Melbourne Park facility on Monday and the games had to be suspended on the seats that were not provided with a sunroof, the Australian Open winner from 2016 trained on a side course. Again and again she received applause from her new trainer.
The first Grand Slam of the year is also a new beginning for Kerber: Dieter Kindlmann is to lead the 32-year-old woman from Kiel, who has been ranked 18th in the world rankings since Saturday. Kerber was cautious about her expectations after suffering muscle hardening in her left thigh at the recent tournament in Adelaide. "I will take a little time to find my base again, to find my rhythm again," she emphasized before the opening match.