Tennis: Julia Goerges steps out of football's shadow

Defending champion Julia Goerges is not focusing on her opponent and will play her own game. Photo / Photosport

When Julia Goerges wanders through the streets of Berlin or Munich, she is rarely noticed or bothered.

Despite being one of best female tennis players in the world, Goerges remains fairly anonymous in her native Germany.

Goerges, who will play in her second consecutive ASB Classic final today, against Canadian sensation Bianca Andreescu, has enjoyed a remarkable two years.

She reached the top 10 in the world for the first time in her career, and has made eight WTA finals, winning four. Last year, she won 46 matches on tour - only two players had more victories - and had a fairy tale run to the semifinals at Wimbledon, before she was stopped by Serena Williams.

But despite all her achievements, Goerges tends to go under the radar at home.

"There is a nice sport called soccer," said Goerges, when asked about her relative fame in Germany. "I love soccer but sometimes it doesn't help in our sport, especially in Europe. Football is everything on the television and not so much tennis. We still do our thing but it doesn't get covered as much as we would probably liked it to."

It means that world No14 Goerges mainly avoids the celebrity lifestyle.

"I can still walk around normally in Germany," said Goerges. "In my home town where I live people recognise and know what I am doing. I do enjoy it that people don't recognise me as much as the soccer players. Maybe it would be different here, if I was a Kiwi."

It certainly would.

Goerges has achieved a decent profile here, for frequent visits and her consistency. This year marks her 10th visit to Auckland, where she has won a record 24 matches at the ASB Classic (Caroline Wozniacki is next best with 16), and has an 18-3 win loss record since 2015.

The defending champion progressed yesterday with a 6-1, 7-6 (6) victory over Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova.

The German hasn't been beaten on the Auckland courts since the 2017 semifinals, and always looked in control.

She blasted the 20-year-old Kuzmova off the court in the first set, with a number of winners and unreturnable serves.

The second set was closer, though Goerges was dominating until a spirited fightback from Kuzmova.

She broke back, and lifted her level to take the match to a tiebreak.

But the odds favoured the German, who had a better record in the shortened format than any player on tour last year.

"My serve helps me - sometimes it's nice to have a free point," said Goerges. "Overall my game is aggressive, I don't want to be passive, I want to go for my shots and not step back from my line. That's the key in tiebreakers, to go for it."

Kuzmova raised her levels, but Goerges converted her third match point to seal her finals passage.

"It was a pretty good match from my side," said Goerges. "I wanted to be aggressive, wanted to be the dominant person on the court. In the key moments I was the more experienced player and played the big points better.

Goerges has a healthy respect for Andreescu but takes a typically pragmatic approach.

"Everybody deserves their spot in the final so she has played some terrific tennis," said Goerges. "This [year] has been probably the [toughest] draw the ASB Classic has had in the women's game. But I am not focusing on my opponent, I want to have it in my hands and play my game."