Julia Görges (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as No. 9 in the world on 20 August 2018 and inside the top 15 in doubles, peaking at world No. 12 on 22 August 2016. She won seven singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour (her biggest title coming at the year-end 2017 WTA Elite Trophy), as well as six singles and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Görges turned professional in 2005, and first broke into the world's top 100 in June 2008. Prior to 2018, her best singles result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the fourth round five times. She broke into the top ten for the first time in February 2018, before going on to reach the semifinals at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships. She was also a two-time semifinalist in women's doubles at the Australian Open, and reached the finals in mixed doubles with Nenad Zimonjić at the 2014 French Open.
She announced her retirement from professional tennis on 21 October 2020, two weeks before her 32nd birthday.
Personal life Julia Görges was born in Bad Oldesloe to Klaus and Inge Görges, both of whom work in insurance. She has one elder maternal half-sister named Maike, who also works in insurance. She attended the Klaus-Groth-Schule and Theodor-Mommsen-Schule in Bad Oldesloe from 1995 to 2005, and completed the Mittlere Reife (middle-school diploma).
She began playing tennis around the age of five. Her tennis idol growing up was Martina Hingis, and she is also a fan of Roger Federer. She was coached by Sascha Nensel, former coach of fellow German player Nicolas Kiefer, until 2015. She preferred hard and grass courts, and her favorite tournament was the Australian Open.
Görges married former ATP Tour player Wesley Koolhof in December 2024 in Arnhem.
Career 2005–2008
In 2005, she began her career on the ITF Women's Circuit, playing in seven tournaments and losing in the first round in five of them. In 2006 and 2007 she continued to play mostly ITF tournaments. In 2006, she won the Wahlstedt and Bielefeld tournaments. In 2007, she won tournaments in Antalya and Bucharest and made her first WTA Tour main draw appearances, the highlight of which was a semifinal in Stockholm, where she lost to Vera Dushevina in three sets. Görges made her major main-draw debut at the US Open, losing to Justine Henin in the first round in straight sets. In 2008, Görges continued to play in a mix of ITF and WTA Tour events. Her best performances were reaching the semifinals of the Slovenia Open, where she lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues, and a quarterfinal-loss to Olga Govortsova in the Cellular South Cup.
She made her top-100 debut in the rankings after the French Open. She won her first major main-draw match at Wimbledon, where she upset the 23rd seed Katarina Srebotnik in a three-hour, 41-minute first-round match. However, she bowed out in the second round to Marina Erakovic, in straight sets.
2009: Consistent top-100 ranking In 2009, Görges began to play in tour events more regularly. It was the first season that she played in the main draw of all four Grand Slam tournaments. She began her season at the Brisbane International, where she lost in qualifying to Anna-Lena Grönefeld.
Görges competed at the Australian Open, the Open GdF Suez, and the Warsaw Open, losing before the third round in each. She retired in the first round of the French Open in a match against Iveta Benešová due to heat exhaustion.
Görges reached the third round of the Birmingham Classic, falling to Urszula Radwańska. She went on to play against Jelena Janković in the first round of Wimbledon, losing in straight sets. She lost prior to the third round at the Slovenia Open, the İstanbul Cup, and the US Open, where she faced Svetlana Kuznetsova.
At the Bell Challenge, she managed to reach the semifinals, before losing to Lucie Šafářová. She was defeated by Raluca Olaru in the second round of the Linz Open.
2010: First WTA Tour title
Görges started the 2010 season at the Auckland Open, losing in the first round to Yanina Wickmayer. She went on to play at the Australian Open, where she beat Tamira Paszek, but then lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.
Görges reached the quarterfinals of Strasbourg, losing to Maria Sharapova. Following a second round loss at the French Open and a first-round loss at Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals of Palermo losing to Flavia Pennetta.
At the Gastein Ladies, Görges won her first career singles title by defeating Timea Bacsinszky in the final in straight sets. She made her top-50 debut in the rankings afterward. At the Danish Open, she reached the quarterfinals, but was unable to take advantage of a 5–3 third-set lead over the top seed Wozniacki, eventually falling in a tiebreak.
Görges defeated Romina Oprandi in the first round of the US Open, before falling to the 15th seed Wickmayer in the second round. At the Japan Open, she scored her first win over a former No. 1 player by defeating Dinara Safina in the first round. In the second, she defeated the fourth seed Samantha Stosur for her first win over a current top-10 player, before losing to CoCo Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals.
At Linz, she reached the quarterfinals, but fell to the eventual champion Ana Ivanovic. In her final tournament of the season, the Luxembourg Open, she won a quarterfinal rematch with Ivanovic, defeating her in straight sets. She eventually reached her second WTA career final, losing to Roberta Vinci.
2011: Second career title, breakthrough into top 25
Beginning her season at the Auckland Open, Görges lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion Gréta Arn. In the second round of the Australian Open, she upset 20th seed Kaia Kanepi. Her third-round match against the 2008 champion Maria Sharapova was a three-set battle, which Görges finally lost. This marked her best performance in a Grand Slam tournament, and she was rewarded by achieving a career-high No. 34 singles ranking on 31 January 2011.
In February, she helped Germany defeat Slovenia in the Fed Cup competition by clinching the tie with a straight-sets win over Maša Zec Peškirič, her first win in the Fed Cup. Switching to the hardcourt, she lost in the first round of Monterrey to Ksenia Pervak, and then continued to struggle at Indian Wells and Miami, losing in the second and first rounds, respectively. At the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, however, she made a quarterfinal appearance on the green clay, losing to Elena Vesnina in three sets.
In the Fed Cup in Stuttgart, Görges won a rubber for Germany against Melanie Oudin, who had defeated her in Miami. Staying there for the Stuttgart Grand Prix, she won her first Premier-level tournament and second WTA tournament, upsetting Samantha Stosur and benefitting from a retirement by Victoria Azarenka. In the final, Görges scored the biggest win of her career by defeating world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in two sets, to become the first German to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix since Anke Huber in 1994.
Less than two weeks after winning in Stuttgart, Görges defeated Wozniacki once again at Madrid. She reached the semifinals, where she lost to Azarenka.
Görges was the 17th seed at the French Open, but fell to the 11th seed Marion Bartoli in three sets in the third round.
After a first round exit to Ana Ivanovic at the Eastbourne International, she reached the third round of Wimbledon where she fell to the 24th seed Dominika Cibulková in three sets.
Görges failed to advance past the second round at Bad Gastein, Stanford, Carlsbad, Toronto, Cincinnati or Dallas. As the 24th seed at the US Open, she fell to the 13th seed Peng Shuai in two close sets in the third round.
Taking part in the Asian part of the WTA Tour, she fell in the quarterfinals of the Korea Open, the third round of the Pan Pacific Open, and the first round of the China Open. She finished her 2011 season with a semifinal loss to Azarenka at the Luxembourg Open. She finished the year ranked 21st, accumulating a 38–25 singles record and a 22–18 doubles record.
2012: Top-20 ranking, consistent form
Seeded fifth at the Auckland Open, she defeated defending champion Gréta Arn, before falling to compatriot Angelique Kerber, in straight sets. Görges had more success in doubles reaching the final with Flavia Pennetta, before falling to the Czech duo of Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in a third-set super tiebreak. After retiring in the first round of the Sydney International against Jelena Janković, she achieved her best Australian Open performance to date by reaching the fourth round. Görges defeated Polona Hercog, Eleni Daniilidou, and Romina Oprandi, before being dominated by the eighth seed, Agnieszka Radwańska. Playing in Fed Cup, she lost to Petra Kvitová in an extremely tight three-setter. Partnering Anna-Lena Grönefeld, she lost to Iveta Benešová and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová as the Czech Republic won the tie 4–1.
Ranked 21st and seeded sixth, she reached the quarterfinals of the Open GdF Suez, falling to Klára Zakopalová in three sets. Görges then lost in the second round in Qatar to Varvara Lepchenko, before reaching the final in Dubai. She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, Casey Dellacqua and Daniela Hantuchová, scored a two-set win over third seed Wozniacki, but then fell to Agnieszka Radwańska again. Her good result at Dubai helped her to achieve a career-high ranking of 15.
Seeded 14th at the Indian Wells Open, she advanced to the fourth round in straight sets, before becoming another victim of Azarenka. After receiving another bye into the second round in Miami, Görges was defeated by the four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters.
At Roland Garros, Görges was seeded 25th. She reached the third round, beating Lucie Hradecká and Heather Watson along the way. She lost in the third round to Arantxa Rus, ending the match with two double faults. At the end of the third set Görges complained about the light, which was dismissed by the head supervisor. After this she asked for a medical time-out and asked again to suspend the match, which again was denied by the umpire. In the women's doubles, she lost in the first round with her partner Samantha Stosur.
She was the top seed in Bad Gastein but lost in three sets to the Dutch qualifier Richèl Hogenkamp, ranked 211, who won her first match on tour. At the same tournament, she won the doubles competition, partnering Jill Craybas. In the final they defeated Grönefeld and Petra Martić.
At Wimbledon, she lost in the third round to Ana Ivanovic, after defeating Shahar Pe'er and Anastasiya Yakimova in the first two rounds. In Palermo, Görges was defeated in the quarterfinals by Záhlavová-Strýcová. In the second round of the Swedish Open, she lost to the eventual champion Hercog in straight sets.
At the London Olympics, Görges surprisingly defeated second seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the first round. She also beat Lepchenko in round two, but in then lost to Maria Kirilenko in straight sets. In the doubles, she teamed with Grönefeld, and reached the second round.
In August, she lost in the first round at Montreal and reached the second round in Cincinnati. At the US Open she lost in the first round to Kristýna Plíšková. In September, she lost in the first round in Seoul. In Tokyo, she defeated Monica Niculescu but lost to Marion Bartoli in the second round.