Tatiana Golovin

Tatiana Golovin (Russian: Татья́на Голови́н; born January 25, 1988) is an inactive Russian-born French professional tennis player. She is best known for her explosive forehand, which is said to be one of the best at the time. She notably won the 2004 French Open mixed doubles event with Richard Gasquet, and reached the singles quarterfinal at the 2006 U.S. Open, losing to the eventual champion Maria Sharapova. The 23-year-old's highest singles ranking to date is 12. However, just as she began experiencing success, in 2008, she was diagnosed with lower back inflammation and was forced to stop playing competitive tennis indefinitely.
Golovin spent six years at Nick Bollettieri's tennis camp in Bradenton, Florida. She is currently coached by former World No. 1 Mats Wilander, having previously been coached by Brad Gilbert and Dean Goldfine.
At the Australian Open, Golovin (as No.354, with wild card) upset No.14 seed Anna Smashnova in the second round and No.23 seed Lina Krasnoroutskaya in the third round (on her 16th birthday), before falling to No.25 seed Lisa Raymond in the fourth round. It was just her second Grand Slam tournament and fifth Tour event she entered, and afterwards, on February 2, she rose to No.136 in the WTA ranking.At Roland Garros, Golovin won the mixed doubles trophy with Richard Gasquet, as a Wild Card team, defeating Cara Black/Wayne Black. They became the youngest champions in 23 years (16 for Golovin, 17 for Gasquet). At Wimbledon, she reached the fourth round, with wins over Alina Jidkova, Francesca Schiavone, and Emmanuelle Gagliardi, before falling to World No. 10 Serena Williams.
Golovin reached the semifinal at the Paris Indoors, losing to Mary Pierce, after beating world No.10 Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinal for her first Top 10 win. In her first Tour grass court main draw at Birmingham, Golovin reached her first Tour singles final, which she lost to Maria Sharapova in 3 sets. Golovin reached her first Tier I quarterfinal in Montreal at the Rogers Cup, losing to Vera Zvonareva. Afterwards, she also reached the quarterfinal in Luxembourg, losing to eventual champion Alicia Molik.
Aged 17 years and eight months, Golovin reached the final in Tokyo at the Japan Open as No. 3 seed, losing to No. 2 seed Nicole Vaidišová, aged 16 years and five months. Golovin retired with a left achilles tendinitis, trailing 7–6(4) 3–2. She was also five-time semifinalist on four different surfaces: on hardcourt at Gold Coast, losing to Schnyder in 3 sets and later that year again on hardcourt at Seoul, losing to Jelena Janković in three sets; on carpet at Paris Indoors, which was her second straight semifinalthere, losing the third set tie-break against Dinara Safina; clay at Charleston, where she secured her third career Top 10 victory versus No. 8 Venus Williams en route to her first Tier I semifinal, before falling to Justine Henin-Hardenne in 2 sets; and grass at Birmingham, losing to Maria Sharapova.Golovin also reached the quarterfinal at Linz losing to Ana Ivanović. She achieved a career-best performance at Roland Garros, reaching the third round as No.17 seed, before falling to No.12 seed Elena Bovina, and reaching an equal-best performance at the US Open, losing as No.23 seed in the third round to No.15 seed Nathalie Dechy in three sets. Golovin also made back-to-back fourth round appearances at Tier I hardcourt events in Indian Wells and Miami, losing to No.5 Elena Dementieva in three sets at both events.She made her Top 20 debut (at No.18) after her semi-final appearance at Charleston.
At her first tournament of the year in Gold Coast, Golovin reached the quarterfinal, losing to finalist Flavia Pennetta in three sets. She then lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Italian Mara Santangelo. Golovin reached her third consecutive Paris Indoors semifinal, defeating Nadia Petrova 3–6, 7–6(7), 6–3 in the quarterfinal, saving match point down 7–6 in tie-break. The victory over world No. 7 Petrova was the fourth top 10 win of her career. She then lost to top seed and eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo 7–6(5) 5–7 2–6 in the semis, having held 4–2 second-set lead and a match point while serving for the match at 5–4.Golovin reached her second career Tier I semifinal at Miami, where she defeated world No.8 Elena Dementieva in the fourth round for the fifth career top 10 victory and 100th career singles match win. In the semifinal, Golovin overcame a 5–1 deficit and four match points while down 5–3 in second set versus Maria Sharapova, pushing the match to a third set before she sprained her left ankle and retired at 3–6 7–6(5) 3–4. She made her return to the WTA Tour at Roland Garros, falling in the first round to Jie Zheng. Golovin went 2–1 in France's 3–2 Fed Cup World Group I Play-off victory over the Czech Republic.
Golovin's third semifinal of the season was at Stanford, where, as an unseeded player, she upset Ai Sugiyama and Anna-Lena Grönefeld on the way, losing to No. 2 seed Patty Schnyder. Golovin then reached the quarterfinal of the U.S. Open, defeating Nadia Petrova for the second time in 2006 in the third round and Anna Chakvetadze in the fourth. She then lost to No. 3 seed and eventual champion Maria Sharapova 6–7(4), 6–7(0) in over two hours. After a first round exit in Luxembourg following the U.S. Open, Golovin reached her first final since the Japan Open Tennis Championships in 2005 at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart by defeating Elena Likhovtseva in the first round, Iveta Benešová in the second, Michaëlla Krajicek in the quarterfinal, and 5th seed Patty Schnyder in the semifinal. Golovin then lost to Nadia Petrova 3–6 6–7 in the final.
At the Zürich Open, Golovin reached the second round, defeating Nicole Vaidišová (6–2, 6–0) in the first, before retiring with a foot injury against Maria Kirilenko while leading 4–2 in the fist set.Golovin started 2007 at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, a non-Tour event. She won her first singles match, defeating American Ashley Harkleroad 6–3, 4–6, 6–2. She pulled out of the mixed doubles match with partner Jérôme Haehnel, citing an ankle injury. She then defeated Australian Alicia Molik, but then lost to Russian Nadia Petrova 7–6, 6–0. Her first event of the WTA season was the Medibank International held in Sydney. In the first round, she beat Peng Shuai 6–4, 7–5 before falling to the top seed Amélie Mauresmo in the second round 6–7(4), 7–5, 6–1.At the Australian Open Golovin fell in the third round to 16th seed Shahar Pe'er in a three-hour match 3–6, 7–5, 7–5, who eventually made the quarterfinals. Her next event was the Paris Indoors, where she lost lost 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 in the third round to Justine Henin, who was playing her first tournament since she came back after her divorce. She lost. She beat Alizé Cornet and Ekaterina Bychkova prior to the meeting with Henin. At the 2007 Proximus Diamond Games held in Antwerp, she beat Katarina Srebotnik, fifth seed Patty Schnyder and Elena Likhovtseva en-route to the semifinals, where she lost to Belgian Kim Clijsters 6–4 6–3.

In the Tier I Indian Wells, Golovin came in as the thirteenth seed. In the first round, she beat Aiko Nakamura 6–0, 7–5 and followed it up with a 6–2, 6–0 win over Samantha Stosur. During her fourth round match-up against Nadia Petrova, the Russian retired, trailing 6–2 1–0, allowing Golovin to set up a quarterfinal match-up with surprise quarterfinalist Sybille Bammer. Golovin was the heavy favourite for this match, however she eventually lost 6–2, 6–3. On April 8, 2007, Golovin won her first WTA title at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, defeating Nadia Petrova 6–2, 6–1 on green clay. Along the way, she defeated Venus Williams in straight sets 6–2, 6–3 and Ana Ivanović in three sets.At Wimbledon, Golovin lost in the second round to 16-year-old, unseeded Tamira Paszek. This was considered to be a major upset. Golovin attracted attention from the media and Wimbledon officials by wearing bright red undergarments — prompting a check of the "predominantly white" rule. At the Acura Classic in California, she lost to top seed Sharapova in the third round with a score of 6–0, 6–3. Golovin returned to action at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada where she reached the semifinals, eventually losing to Jelena Janković by a score of 5–7, 6–3, 6–2. She entered the 2007 U.S. Open Women's Singles event as the No. 17 seed, but was upset in the first round by American wildcard Ahsha Rolle.