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.
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.
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.
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.