Following several worrying rumors telling that Tatiana would retire soon, we decided to join her and ask her about her current feelings. Tati, who had finally started training again with Courteau a couple of weeks ago, and who thought that the injury was gone for good, was struck again. She might have an Ankylosing spondylitis, which is basically a chronic degenerative inflammatory arthritis. (Check the wikipedia page for more informations.) It would apparently not be possible to heal this disease, but it could go away sometimes. According to the doctors, a sportsman who would have this disease’s career would be filled with ups and downs.

Nonetheless, Tati stays hopeful and keeps believing. In a mail she sent us earlier, she told us that "unfortunately, I’m still suffering from my back, so I have to stop again, I can’t tell you more. It is pretty tough but I am ok and I am still optimistic."

Tatiana also visits the website from time to time and She wanted to thank you again : "I can’t thank you guys enough. I want to thank you and your team, and all the fans for your support and your encouragements ! "

To finish on a good note, Tatiana has been chosen to appear in the very famous Sports llustrated Swimsuit Issue 2009, which should be out in February in the United States. The photoshoot will take place in the beginning of December in Dominican Republic. Have fun Tat’ !

Best of luck Tatiana, we are sure that good things are yet to come.

Don’t forget that Tatiana really needs your messages and that she speaks English and Russian, so don’t hesitate to send her a few nice words wherever you come from.

According to today’s L’équipe, Tatiana would be suffering from her back again. Therefore, Loïc Courteau, who was meant to coach her next year, has chosen to coach other French tennis player Paul-Henri Mathieu instead. This is a very worrying news since a few weeks ago, Tatiana said she was feeling really good and she had been playing tennis again for a few weeks after a couple of months off. Keep an eye on the website for more news.

Tatiana Golovin was at Bercy yesterday to cheer for her compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during his semi-final against James Blake (Jo won 6-4 6-3 ) .
Tati was interviewed by Canal + : She confirmed that she has came back to training for several weeks now but nothing new (a big thanks to Fabien for the video ! ) :

L’Equipe has just announced that Tati, who has now been injured for about 6 months, will be back to the training courts this week in Roland Garros with a new coach, Loïc Courteau. Tatiana’s back has cleary got better recently, so she wants to see how she is feeling with it when she is playing.
Loïc Courteau is on of the most well-known coaches for leading Amélie Mauresmo to the top : she won 2 Grand Slam titles, a Masters and became the World number 1 with him. Tati was also being coached by him the week she won Amelia Island back in 2007, and she has always said she was waiting for a coach like him. However, Courteau will decide either he will work with Tati next year or not at the end of October or November.

October 8th : Tati was back to the training session yesterday and Tati will practice harder and harder during 2 weeks and see how her back reacts.

Tati has announced in an interview on L’Equipe 3 days ago that she will not be playing anymore this year. She is getting better and better but just does not want to get injured again by coming back too soon like she did previously this year. Here comes a translation of this interview :

How are you doing, Tatiana ?
I have the feeling I am on the good way. I know what is the problem now, I am getting better. I feel good meentally. The season is over for me and I hope to come back next year.

You have probably had ups and downs…
Many, many downs, and a few ups. When you play tennis, you have the feeling that you are only doing this, that you only stop during 2 or 3 weeks to breathe. And suddenly you cannot play anymore. You do not know what to do anymore, you feel a little lost. But I have always stayed hopeful. Now, I am feeling way better because I know that in a couple of months, in Australia, I will be back. I have enough time to heal completely.

What kind of injury is it actually ?
There is an inflamation at the sacrospinalis-iliac crest which is hard to get rid of. It results of a general bad health. Acutally, my back injury is just the consequence of a "bad" health and immune system. Therefore, I am often doing blood tests to see if I am not lacking anything. First, I had to improve lots of things, but the last blood tests have been pretty satisfying.

Some people in the tennis world were talking about a retirement..
I am too young to retire now. If I had had these problems at 27 or 28, it could have been the case. At 20 years old, there is no way I stop now. Perhaps we have lost some time at the beginning with wrong diagnosis, but I am not dying !

Was it really nessessary to have surgery in March ?
The double-surgery (ovary cyst and appendicitis) was nessessary anyways. After the surgery, I thought I would have enough time to get in shape for the French Open. I started to practice again, and at this moment it was just great. But everything quikly changed when I realized at Cagnes and Berlin that I was suffering from my back as much as I used to.

However, you were still hopeful for the Olympics, weren’t you ?
Some people told me that when you cannot play, it is good to set goals about the come back, etc. I was dreaming about Beijing. I had been back to the practice in July, during 3 weeks. Perhaps it was not enough, but I was really hitting the ball well and I was just so motivated to play. When we landed at the Beijing airport, I was 100% sure to play. And then, after 3 days, with the trip, the jet lag, tiredness, boom ! The pain came back.

What are you doing these days then ?
I watched the US Open a bit on TV. Do not think I am not following anything. I am overall in London because Sam (Samir Nasri, her boyfriend) plays for Arsenal. I am staying with him as much as I can and enjoying the moments with him because I know that when I will be back to the tour, it will not be easy. I will probably get ready for the Australian Summer season in the United Stated. Now, I am getting fit physically and swimming.

Do you already know about your future organisation when you start training again ? Loïc Courteau is not sure to keep on coaching Amélie Mauresmo, so..
That’s right, I have always told Loïc that I was waiting for him when he is free, it would be great to have him as a coach. To me, he is one of the bests. But we will see what happens with Amélie. As for now, the main goal is to get the shape back.

An interview of Tati has been published on L’Equipe website today, here comes a brief summary of it made by FrenchY52:

She basically says that she’s learnt from her injuries. But she does not it the same way as she used to after her previous injuries. This year was very hard for her, there were also moments of hope… Right now she is hopeful. The Olympics were her worst memory of the year. In the plane, she was 100% sure she was going to play, she says she was even thinking of a medal because she had been playing really well in practice sessions. When the injury started to came back, she did everything she could to get rid of it quikly, but it did not work. She was about to play injured, but finally thought it would be useless to do this again (she already played in Berlin although she was injured). She has just come back from London where there are great care centres. She is only doing physical work right now. She said it was hard because she’s been doing tennis all her life, since she was 7 everyday, and this year she had to find other things to do : mostly seeing doctors, blood tests (she says her arm is blue because of the blood tests!). She thanks everyone a lot for their precious support. She also says that this year was a test to see if she really wanted to keep on competing : and yes she does, she wants to play tennis more than ever and she knows she is going to come back stronger than ever, she knows she has everything to be in the top10. She is going to stop scheduling things because she has done it all year and it hasn’t been successful at all. It made things go worse, stressful etc. She knows she won’t be back at her best with 4-5 tournaments, so she thinks it would probably be better to practice during 2 whole months and then come back 100% fit in Australia. The injury is almost completely healed, but she will only start playing again when everything is for sure ok. Then she will go and train either in Florida, France with the French federation, or look for a coach.

(Source : L’Equipe)

One day after her withdrawal from the Olympics tournament, Tatiana gave Golovin-Attitude.Com a few news from Beijing. She is obviously very disappointed for herself, but also the Team. Although she is doubtful for the US Open, Tati tries to stay positive. Here comes a part of her mail (translated by FrenchY52) :

I am obviously very disappointed and sad to be here in Beijing but not to be able to play ! I really believed till the end that my back was going to hold… Nonetheless I’m trying to stay positive because of the way the pain fell down, I almost manage to feel no pain but it is just a bit difficult because the treatment needs a lot of time to take full effect. Otherwise, the Olympics are an amazing event, we spent amazing moments with the team at the Opening Ceremony, I had goose flesh. I am going back to France soon, I am doubtful for the US Open but I still hope. Also, I may go to London to spend some time with my boyfriend.

Once again I want to thank you all for following me, supporting me, these times are hard for me.

xxx and see you soon.

Tatiana.

Thanks again to her for giving us a few news. You can send her messages here.