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| 02 Jul 2003 | |
| Golovin grabs chance of glory |
Golovin grabs chance of glory
By Eleanor Preston
French sensation Tatiana Golovin strolled into the third round of the Wimbledon girls’ championship with a one-sided 6-0 6-2 win over Australia’s Lara Giltinan. Golovin, who is seeded 12th, wasted little time in clinically disposing of her unseeded opponent and taking full advantage of Giltinan’s inexperience.
“She really wasn’t serving very well at all, and I think I just played a little bit better when I needed to,” said Golovin, 16. “I wanted to try and play better and better as the match went on and I think I managed to do that.”
Golovin is playing a limited number of junior tournaments this year as she attempts to make the transition to the professional circuit but said she couldn’t bear to miss junior Grand Slam events like Wimbledon. “The Slams are something else,” she said, “you cannot imagine how special it is to play in them, especially here. I think honestly, after my home Grand Slam of Roland Garros, Wimbledon is my favourite place to play. I think the crowds here make it so special because people here really know a lot about tennis and they appreciate when you play well. When I see tents on the street outside and I realise that people actually queue all night on the street just to watch, it makes me want to try to play better for them. I think that’s amazing and I definitely find it inspiring.”
Inspiring it may be but the heavy and persistent showers which are a regular feature of Wimbledon disrupted the day’s play yet again and made life difficult for all the juniors, only some of whom got their matches completed in between the showers. Golovin admitted she was fortunate to have had her match scheduled to be on early but her match against Giltinan was still stopped twice by heavy rain.
Golovin took it in her stride. “When we had the longest break I had just won the first set pretty easily so it’s not like I had too much to worry about,” she said. “I got something to eat and tried to relax. Sometimes it can be hard in that situation because it gives your opponent a chance to talk to her coach and to regroup, but I managed to stay focussed. In a way it is more frustrating when it rains at the US Open or the Australian Open because you are expecting nice weather for the whole two weeks. Here the rain is no surprise – it’s almost like it is a part of the tournament.”
Golovin may have to get used to inclement weather though, after seven years in Florida she is moving back to Paris to continue her training. “At first my family was there with me but when they went back to Paris it was hard. When you travel a lot anyway it’s nice to be back with your family. I am a bit worried about the weather though. At least I know I can travel to hot places to play!”
Elsewhere in the girls’ draw Michaela Krajicek (NED) needed to come from a set down to beat Lucie Safarova of Russia 4-6 6-3 6-4 and Emma Laine (FIN) knocked the last British girl out of the draw by beating Katie O’Brien 6-1 7-5.
In the boys’ draw Brendan Evans (USA) scored the upset of the day by knocking out fourth seed Mathew Montcourt (FRA). Big-serving Evans is sporting two newly pierced ears this week and it seems to have brought him good luck.
In other results Germany’s Sebastian Rieschick beat Gael Montfils (FRA) 7-5, 3-6, 10-8 in a marathon and Florin Mergea (ROM), Chris Guccione and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga all notched up wins.
Photos by Susan Mullane
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